Synthesis and characterization of p-type NiO films suitable for normally-off AlGaN/GaN HFETs application

p-type NiO films were prepared at different oxidizing temperatures in O2 ambient for normally-off AlGaN/GaN HFETs application. The crystalline structure, electrical properties and band gap of NiO films are dependent upon temperatures. Compared with the conventional Ni-gated HFETs, NiO-gated HFETs present positively shifted threshold voltage and smaller gate leakage current, while the drain current density shows slightly degradation. Combining the recess structure and NiO gate, normally-off GaN HFETs was achieved with a threshold voltage of approximately 0.5 V. The band diagram of the NiO/AlGaN/GaN structure demonstrates that the p-type conductivity and large conduction band offset between NiO and GaN cause the lift-up potential, which result in 2DEG depletion and positive threshold voltage shift.