Temperature dependent microwave performance of AlGaN/GaN high-electron-mobility transistors on high-resistivity silicon substrate

The influence of temperature (− 50 °C to + 200 °C) was studied on the DC and microwave characteristics of AlGaN/GaN high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs) on high resistivity Si substrate for the first time. The AlGaN/GaN HEMTs exhibited a current-gain cut-off frequency (fT) of 11.8 GHz and maximum frequency of oscillation (fmax) of 27.5 GHz. When compared to room temperature values, about 4% and 10% increase in fT and fmax and 23% and 39.5% decrease in fT and fmax were observed when measured at − 50 °C and 200 °C, respectively. The improvement of ID, gmfT, and fmax at − 50 °C is due to the enhancement of 2DEG mobility and effective electron velocity. The anomalous drain current reduction in the I–V curves were observed at low voltage region at the temperature ≤ 10 °C but disappeared when the temperature reached ≥ 25 °C. A positive threshold voltage (Vth) shift was observed from − 50 °C to 200 °C. The positive shift of Vth is due to the occurrence of trapping effects in the devices. The drain leakage current decreases with activation energies of 0.028 eV and 0.068 eV. This decrease of leakage current with the increase of temperature is due to the shallow acceptor initiated impact ionization.