Pulsed characteristics for high current, large area GaN/Ain resonant tunneling diodes

T. A. Growden; D. F. Storm; E. M. Cornuelle; L. M. Whitaker; B. P. Downey; W. D. Zhang; J. W. Daulton; R. Molnar; E. R. Brown; P. R. Berger; D. J. Meyer

doi:10.1109/DRC46940.2019.9046388

Pulsed characteristics for high current, large area GaN/Ain resonant tunneling diodes

T. A. Growden
, D. F. Storm
, E. M. Cornuelle
, L. M. Whitaker
, B. P. Downey
, W. D. Zhang
, J. W. Daulton
, R. Molnar
, E. R. Brown
, P. R. Berger
, D. J. Meyer

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › Scientific › peer-review

Abstract

Recently there has been renewed interest in resonant tunnel diodes (RTD) owing to the demonstration of repeatable room temperature negative differential resistance (RT-NDR) [1], [2] and high peak current densities [3] in GaN-based RTDs. While most of the successful demonstrations of RT-NDR have been from device structures grown on low dislocation-density, freestanding (FS) GaN substrates, there have been a few reports of repeatable RT-NDR from GaN-based RTDs grown on GaN templates on sapphire [4], [5], which have significantly higher densities of threading dislocations (TDs) than FS GaN substrates, but much lower cost. Furthermore, due to the large spontaneous and piezoelectric charge found at the heterointerfaces in III-nitrides, GaN-based RTDs, such as the one illustrated in Fig. 1(a), have highly unusual energy band diagrams, even at 0V bias [Fig. 1(b)]. However, observations of RT-NDR in GaN RTDs on GaN templated sapphire substrates have been restricted to devices of very small active area, typically less than 10\ \mu \mathrm{m}^{2} [4], [5].

Original language	English
Title of host publication	2019 Device Research Conference, DRC 2019
Publisher	IEEE
Pages	145-146
Number of pages	2
ISBN (Electronic)	9781728121123
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/DRC46940.2019.9046388
Publication status	Published - Jun 2019
Externally published	Yes
Publication type	A4 Article in conference proceedings
Event	2019 Device Research Conference, DRC 2019 - Ann Arbor, United States Duration: 23 Jun 2019 → 26 Jun 2019

Publication series

Name	Device Research Conference - Conference Digest, DRC
Volume	2019-June
ISSN (Print)	1548-3770

Conference

Conference	2019 Device Research Conference, DRC 2019
Country/Territory	United States
City	Ann Arbor
Period	23/06/19 → 26/06/19

Funding

Here we report on the observation of repeatable RT-NDR in pulsed current-voltage (I-V) measurements of AlN/GaN RTD structures as large as 72 μm2 grown on both GaN templated sapphire and FS GaN substrates. Pulse widths from 100 ns to 1000 μs with a pulse separation of 1 to 10 ms were used for pulsed I-V measurements, corresponding to duty-cycles of 1×10-5 to 0.5. The device epitaxial structure [Fig. 1(a)] grown on each substrate was nominally identical. Small-area RTDs (6 and 11 μm2) exhibited peak current densities as high as 430 kA/cm2 [3] and 930 kA/cm2 [5] on the FS GaN and GaN templated sapphire substrates, respectively. Large area RTDs (54 and 72 μm2) grown on FS GaN (TD density ~5×106 cm-2) exhibited peak currents as high as 120 mA at ~8V under pulsed conditions, while those grown on sapphire-based GaN templates (TD density ~3×108 cm-2) exhibited currents as high as 320 mA at ~9.4V. All pulsed measurements were pulsed from a base of 0 V. None of the large area RTDs showed RT-NDR on the GaN template under non-pulsed dc bias, and only a few displayed it on the FS GaN. It was found that varying the pulse separation (minimum of 1 ms allowed by instrument) had little or no effect on the resulting I-V characteristics. This is likely because the thermal time constant is such that even with the shortest pulse separation, the devices had plenty of time to cool down between pulses. However, peak-to-valley current ratios on all devices diminished as pulse width increased; the pulse width at which RT-NDR was no longer observed in devices on GaN templates was ~500 ns [Fig. 2(a)], whereas the lower current bulk GaN devices continued displaying NDR up to continuous-bias operation [Fig. 2(b)]. Temperature dependent I-Vs on small area RTDs from a previous study on the same GaN templated sample [Fig. 3(a)] [5] display a comparable behavior to pulsed I-Vs which have varied the pulse width [Fig. 3(b)]. The same measurements were done while the devices were illuminated with a high power UV source (320-500 nm mercury arc), however, the results were nearly identical. We interpret this as indicating that self-heating rather than trapping effects limit the performance of high current, particularly large area, GaN-based RTDs. If the heating effects observed here can be mitigated, GaN-based RTDs, owing to their built in gain mechanism, offer great potential in high power, high-frequency applications. Acknowledgements: This work was supported by U.S. National Science Foundation (Grants #1711733 & #1711738, Dr. Dimitris Pavlidis) and U.S. Office of Naval Research (MURI N00014-11-1-0721, Dr. Paul Maki). Approved for public release. Distribution is unlimited. This material is based upon work supported by the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering under Air Force Contract No. FA8702-15-D-0001. Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering.

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Access to Document

10.1109/DRC46940.2019.9046388

Cite this

Growden, T. A., Storm, D. F., Cornuelle, E. M., Whitaker, L. M., Downey, B. P., Zhang, W. D., Daulton, J. W., Molnar, R., Brown, E. R., Berger, P. R., & Meyer, D. J. (2019). Pulsed characteristics for high current, large area GaN/Ain resonant tunneling diodes. In 2019 Device Research Conference, DRC 2019 (pp. 145-146). (Device Research Conference - Conference Digest, DRC; Vol. 2019-June). IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/DRC46940.2019.9046388

@inproceedings{4c69e2b3605b4a44bbb6b6a7c7dc1d20,

title = "Pulsed characteristics for high current, large area GaN/Ain resonant tunneling diodes",

abstract = "Recently there has been renewed interest in resonant tunnel diodes (RTD) owing to the demonstration of repeatable room temperature negative differential resistance (RT-NDR) [1], [2] and high peak current densities [3] in GaN-based RTDs. While most of the successful demonstrations of RT-NDR have been from device structures grown on low dislocation-density, freestanding (FS) GaN substrates, there have been a few reports of repeatable RT-NDR from GaN-based RTDs grown on GaN templates on sapphire [4], [5], which have significantly higher densities of threading dislocations (TDs) than FS GaN substrates, but much lower cost. Furthermore, due to the large spontaneous and piezoelectric charge found at the heterointerfaces in III-nitrides, GaN-based RTDs, such as the one illustrated in Fig. 1(a), have highly unusual energy band diagrams, even at 0V bias [Fig. 1(b)]. However, observations of RT-NDR in GaN RTDs on GaN templated sapphire substrates have been restricted to devices of very small active area, typically less than 10\textbackslash{} \textbackslash{}mu \textbackslash{}mathrm\{m\}\textasciicircum{}\{2\} [4], [5].",

author = "Growden, \{T. A.\} and Storm, \{D. F.\} and Cornuelle, \{E. M.\} and Whitaker, \{L. M.\} and Downey, \{B. P.\} and Zhang, \{W. D.\} and Daulton, \{J. W.\} and R. Molnar and Brown, \{E. R.\} and Berger, \{P. R.\} and Meyer, \{D. J.\}",

note = "Funding Information: Here we report on the observation of repeatable RT-NDR in pulsed current-voltage (I-V) measurements of AlN/GaN RTD structures as large as 72 μm2 grown on both GaN templated sapphire and FS GaN substrates. Pulse widths from 100 ns to 1000 μs with a pulse separation of 1 to 10 ms were used for pulsed I-V measurements, corresponding to duty-cycles of 1×10-5 to 0.5. The device epitaxial structure [Fig. 1(a)] grown on each substrate was nominally identical. Small-area RTDs (6 and 11 μm2) exhibited peak current densities as high as 430 kA/cm2 [3] and 930 kA/cm2 [5] on the FS GaN and GaN templated sapphire substrates, respectively. Large area RTDs (54 and 72 μm2) grown on FS GaN (TD density \textasciitilde{}5×106 cm-2) exhibited peak currents as high as 120 mA at \textasciitilde{}8V under pulsed conditions, while those grown on sapphire-based GaN templates (TD density \textasciitilde{}3×108 cm-2) exhibited currents as high as 320 mA at \textasciitilde{}9.4V. All pulsed measurements were pulsed from a base of 0 V. None of the large area RTDs showed RT-NDR on the GaN template under non-pulsed dc bias, and only a few displayed it on the FS GaN. It was found that varying the pulse separation (minimum of 1 ms allowed by instrument) had little or no effect on the resulting I-V characteristics. This is likely because the thermal time constant is such that even with the shortest pulse separation, the devices had plenty of time to cool down between pulses. However, peak-to-valley current ratios on all devices diminished as pulse width increased; the pulse width at which RT-NDR was no longer observed in devices on GaN templates was \textasciitilde{}500 ns [Fig. 2(a)], whereas the lower current bulk GaN devices continued displaying NDR up to continuous-bias operation [Fig. 2(b)]. Temperature dependent I-Vs on small area RTDs from a previous study on the same GaN templated sample [Fig. 3(a)] [5] display a comparable behavior to pulsed I-Vs which have varied the pulse width [Fig. 3(b)]. The same measurements were done while the devices were illuminated with a high power UV source (320-500 nm mercury arc), however, the results were nearly identical. We interpret this as indicating that self-heating rather than trapping effects limit the performance of high current, particularly large area, GaN-based RTDs. If the heating effects observed here can be mitigated, GaN-based RTDs, owing to their built in gain mechanism, offer great potential in high power, high-frequency applications. Acknowledgements: This work was supported by U.S. National Science Foundation (Grants \#1711733 \& \#1711738, Dr. Dimitris Pavlidis) and U.S. Office of Naval Research (MURI N00014-11-1-0721, Dr. Paul Maki). Approved for public release. Distribution is unlimited. This material is based upon work supported by the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering under Air Force Contract No. FA8702-15-D-0001. Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2019 IEEE. Copyright: Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.; 2019 Device Research Conference, DRC 2019 ; Conference date: 23-06-2019 Through 26-06-2019",

year = "2019",

month = jun,

doi = "10.1109/DRC46940.2019.9046388",

language = "English",

series = "Device Research Conference - Conference Digest, DRC",

publisher = "IEEE",

pages = "145--146",

booktitle = "2019 Device Research Conference, DRC 2019",

address = "United States",

}

Growden, TA, Storm, DF, Cornuelle, EM, Whitaker, LM, Downey, BP, Zhang, WD, Daulton, JW, Molnar, R, Brown, ER, Berger, PR & Meyer, DJ 2019, Pulsed characteristics for high current, large area GaN/Ain resonant tunneling diodes. in 2019 Device Research Conference, DRC 2019. Device Research Conference - Conference Digest, DRC, vol. 2019-June, IEEE, pp. 145-146, 2019 Device Research Conference, DRC 2019, Ann Arbor, United States, 23/06/19. https://doi.org/10.1109/DRC46940.2019.9046388

Pulsed characteristics for high current, large area GaN/Ain resonant tunneling diodes. / Growden, T. A.; Storm, D. F.; Cornuelle, E. M. et al.
2019 Device Research Conference, DRC 2019. IEEE, 2019. p. 145-146 (Device Research Conference - Conference Digest, DRC; Vol. 2019-June).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › Scientific › peer-review

TY - GEN

T1 - Pulsed characteristics for high current, large area GaN/Ain resonant tunneling diodes

AU - Growden, T. A.

AU - Storm, D. F.

AU - Cornuelle, E. M.

AU - Whitaker, L. M.

AU - Downey, B. P.

AU - Zhang, W. D.

AU - Daulton, J. W.

AU - Molnar, R.

AU - Brown, E. R.

AU - Berger, P. R.

AU - Meyer, D. J.

N1 - Funding Information: Here we report on the observation of repeatable RT-NDR in pulsed current-voltage (I-V) measurements of AlN/GaN RTD structures as large as 72 μm2 grown on both GaN templated sapphire and FS GaN substrates. Pulse widths from 100 ns to 1000 μs with a pulse separation of 1 to 10 ms were used for pulsed I-V measurements, corresponding to duty-cycles of 1×10-5 to 0.5. The device epitaxial structure [Fig. 1(a)] grown on each substrate was nominally identical. Small-area RTDs (6 and 11 μm2) exhibited peak current densities as high as 430 kA/cm2 [3] and 930 kA/cm2 [5] on the FS GaN and GaN templated sapphire substrates, respectively. Large area RTDs (54 and 72 μm2) grown on FS GaN (TD density ~5×106 cm-2) exhibited peak currents as high as 120 mA at ~8V under pulsed conditions, while those grown on sapphire-based GaN templates (TD density ~3×108 cm-2) exhibited currents as high as 320 mA at ~9.4V. All pulsed measurements were pulsed from a base of 0 V. None of the large area RTDs showed RT-NDR on the GaN template under non-pulsed dc bias, and only a few displayed it on the FS GaN. It was found that varying the pulse separation (minimum of 1 ms allowed by instrument) had little or no effect on the resulting I-V characteristics. This is likely because the thermal time constant is such that even with the shortest pulse separation, the devices had plenty of time to cool down between pulses. However, peak-to-valley current ratios on all devices diminished as pulse width increased; the pulse width at which RT-NDR was no longer observed in devices on GaN templates was ~500 ns [Fig. 2(a)], whereas the lower current bulk GaN devices continued displaying NDR up to continuous-bias operation [Fig. 2(b)]. Temperature dependent I-Vs on small area RTDs from a previous study on the same GaN templated sample [Fig. 3(a)] [5] display a comparable behavior to pulsed I-Vs which have varied the pulse width [Fig. 3(b)]. The same measurements were done while the devices were illuminated with a high power UV source (320-500 nm mercury arc), however, the results were nearly identical. We interpret this as indicating that self-heating rather than trapping effects limit the performance of high current, particularly large area, GaN-based RTDs. If the heating effects observed here can be mitigated, GaN-based RTDs, owing to their built in gain mechanism, offer great potential in high power, high-frequency applications. Acknowledgements: This work was supported by U.S. National Science Foundation (Grants #1711733 & #1711738, Dr. Dimitris Pavlidis) and U.S. Office of Naval Research (MURI N00014-11-1-0721, Dr. Paul Maki). Approved for public release. Distribution is unlimited. This material is based upon work supported by the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering under Air Force Contract No. FA8702-15-D-0001. Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering. Publisher Copyright: © 2019 IEEE. Copyright: Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

PY - 2019/6

Y1 - 2019/6

N2 - Recently there has been renewed interest in resonant tunnel diodes (RTD) owing to the demonstration of repeatable room temperature negative differential resistance (RT-NDR) [1], [2] and high peak current densities [3] in GaN-based RTDs. While most of the successful demonstrations of RT-NDR have been from device structures grown on low dislocation-density, freestanding (FS) GaN substrates, there have been a few reports of repeatable RT-NDR from GaN-based RTDs grown on GaN templates on sapphire [4], [5], which have significantly higher densities of threading dislocations (TDs) than FS GaN substrates, but much lower cost. Furthermore, due to the large spontaneous and piezoelectric charge found at the heterointerfaces in III-nitrides, GaN-based RTDs, such as the one illustrated in Fig. 1(a), have highly unusual energy band diagrams, even at 0V bias [Fig. 1(b)]. However, observations of RT-NDR in GaN RTDs on GaN templated sapphire substrates have been restricted to devices of very small active area, typically less than 10\ \mu \mathrm{m}^{2} [4], [5].

AB - Recently there has been renewed interest in resonant tunnel diodes (RTD) owing to the demonstration of repeatable room temperature negative differential resistance (RT-NDR) [1], [2] and high peak current densities [3] in GaN-based RTDs. While most of the successful demonstrations of RT-NDR have been from device structures grown on low dislocation-density, freestanding (FS) GaN substrates, there have been a few reports of repeatable RT-NDR from GaN-based RTDs grown on GaN templates on sapphire [4], [5], which have significantly higher densities of threading dislocations (TDs) than FS GaN substrates, but much lower cost. Furthermore, due to the large spontaneous and piezoelectric charge found at the heterointerfaces in III-nitrides, GaN-based RTDs, such as the one illustrated in Fig. 1(a), have highly unusual energy band diagrams, even at 0V bias [Fig. 1(b)]. However, observations of RT-NDR in GaN RTDs on GaN templated sapphire substrates have been restricted to devices of very small active area, typically less than 10\ \mu \mathrm{m}^{2} [4], [5].

U2 - 10.1109/DRC46940.2019.9046388

DO - 10.1109/DRC46940.2019.9046388

M3 - Conference contribution

AN - SCOPUS:85083263784

T3 - Device Research Conference - Conference Digest, DRC

SP - 145

EP - 146

BT - 2019 Device Research Conference, DRC 2019

PB - IEEE

T2 - 2019 Device Research Conference, DRC 2019

Y2 - 23 June 2019 through 26 June 2019

ER -

Pulsed characteristics for high current, large area GaN/Ain resonant tunneling diodes

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