First Demonstration of a Self-Aligned GaN p-FET

In this work, we demonstrate a self-aligned p-FET with a GaN/Al
0
2Ga
0
8N (20 nm)/GaN heterostructure grown by metal-organic-chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) on Si substrate. Our 100 nm channel length device with recess depth of 70 nm exhibits a record ON-resistance of 400 Ω•mm and ON-current over 5 mA/mm with ON-OFF ratio of 6×10
⁵
when compared with other p-FET demonstrations based on GaN/AlGaN heterostructure. The device shows E-mode operation with a threshold voltage of −1 V, making it a promising candidate for GaN-based complementary circuit that can be integrated on a Silicon platform. A monolithically integrated n-channel transistor with p-GaN gate is also demonstrated. The potential of the reported p-FET for complementary logic application is evaluated through industry-standard compact modeling and inverter circuit simulation.