Enhancement of two dimensional electron gas concentrations due to Si3N4 passivation on Al0.3Ga0.7N/GaN heterostructure: strain and interface capacitance analysis

Enhancement of two dimensional electron gas (2DEG) concentrations at Al0.3Ga0.7N/GaN hetero interface after a-Si3N4 (SiN) passivation has been investigated from non-destructive High Resolution X-ray Diffraction (HRXRD) analysis, depletion depth and capacitance-voltage (C-V) profile measurement. The crystalline quality and strained in-plane lattice parameters of Al0.3Ga0.7N and GaN were evaluated from double axis (002) symmetric (ω-2θ) diffraction scan and double axis (105) asymmetric reciprocal space mapping (DA RSM) which revealed that the tensile strain of the Al0.3Ga0.7N layer increased by 15.6% after SiN passivation. In accordance with the predictions from theoretical solution of Schrödinger-Poisson’s equations, both electrochemical capacitance voltage (ECV) depletion depth profile and C-V characteristics analyses were performed which implied effective 9.5% increase in 2DEG carrier density after passivation. The enhancement of polarization charges results from increased tensile strain in the Al0.3Ga0.7N layer and also due to the decreased surface states at the interface of SiN/Al0.3Ga0.7N layer, effectively improving the carrier confinement at the interface.