Evaluation of Trapping Behaviors in Forward Biased Schottky-Type p-GaN Gate HEMTs

In this work, we investigated the trapping behaviors in the Schottky-type p-GaN gate high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs) under positive gate bias using the current-transient method. By excluding the trapping effect introduced by the measurement voltages, the actual recovery curves of drain transient current under different gate filling voltages and temperatures were extracted. The impacts of electron trapping, hole injection, and electron–hole recombination on the threshold voltage instability can be effectively distinguished according to the results of drain current variations under different gate stresses. In addition, the dynamic drain leakage current was monitored to confirm the electron–hole recombination and optical pumping of trapped electrons. The properties of three electron traps can be obtained based on the time constant spectrum (TCS), and a database of the gate-trapping behaviors in the GaN-based devices was constructed. The combined results may provide a basis for a better understanding of the threshold voltage instability under positive gate stress in the p-GaN gate HEMTs.