Analytical models for the 2DEG concentration and gate leakage current in AlGaN/GaN HEMTs

In this paper, we present a completely analytical model for the 2DEG concentration in AlGaN/GaN HEMTs as a function of gate bias, considering the donor-like trap states present at the metal/AlGaN interface to be the primary source of 2DEG carriers. To the best of our knowledge, this is a completely new contribution of this work. The electric field in the AlGaN layer is calculated using this model, which is further used to model the gate leakage current under reverse bias. We have modified the existing TTT (Thermionic Trap-Assisted Tunneling) current model, taking into account the effect of both metal/AlGaN interface traps as well as AlGaN bulk traps. The gate current under forward bias is also modeled using the existing thermionic emission model, approximating it by its Taylor series expansion. To take into account the effect of non-zero drain-source bias (VDS), an empirical fitting parameter is introduced in order to model the channel voltage in terms of VDS. The results of our models have been compared with the experimental data reported in the literature for three different devices, and the match is found to be excellent for both forward and reverse bias as well as for zero and non-zero VDS.