Recent years have witnessed GaN-based devices delivering their promise of unprecedented power and frequency levels and demonstrating their capability as an able replacement for Si-based devices. High-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs), a key representative architecture of GaN-based devices, are well-suited for high-power and high frequency device applications, owing to highly desirable III-nitride physical properties. However, these devices are still hounded by issues not previously encountered in their more established Si-and GaAs-based devices counterparts. Metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) structures are usually employed with varying degrees of success in sidestepping the major problematic issues such as excessive leakage current and current instability. While different insulator materials have been applied to GaN-based transistors, the properties of insulator/III-N interfaces are still not fully understood. This is mainly due to the difficulty of characterizing insulator/AlGaN interfaces in a MIS HEMT because of the two resulting interfaces: insulator/AlGaN and AlGaN/GaN, making the potential modulation rather complicated. Although there have been many reports of low interface-trap densities in HEMT MIS capacitors, several papers have incorrectly evaluated their capacitance-voltage (C-V) characteristics. A HEMT MIS structure typically shows a 2-step C-V behavior. However, several groups reported C-V curves without the characteristic step at the forward bias regime, which is likely to the high-density states at the insulator/ AlGaN interface impeding the potential control of the AlGaN surface by the gate bias. In this review paper, first we describe critical issues and problems including leakage current, current collapse and threshold voltage instability in AlGaN/GaN HEMTs. Then we present interface properties, focusing on interface states, of GaN MIS systems using oxides, nitrides and high-κ dielectrics. Next, the properties of a variety of AlGaN/GaN MIS structures as well as different characterization methods, including our own photo-assisted C-V technique, essential for understanding and developing successful surface passivation and interface control schemes, are given in the subsequent section. Finally we highlight the important progress in GaN MIS interfaces that have recently pushed the frontier of nitride-based device technology.

Gallium nitride (GaN) is one of the front-runner materials among the so-called wide bandgap semiconductors that can provide devices having high breakdown voltages and are capable of performing efficiently even at high temperatures. The wide bandgap, however, naturally leads to a high density of surface states on bare GaN-based devices or interface states along insulator/semiconductor interfaces distributed over a wide energy range. These electronic states can lead to instabilities and other problems when not appropriately managed. In this Tutorial, we intend to provide a pedagogical presentation of the models of electronic states, their effects on device performance, and the presently accepted approaches to minimize their effects such as surface passivation and insulated gate technologies. We also re-evaluate standard characterization methods and discuss their possible pitfalls and current limitations in probing electronic states located deep within the bandgap. We then introduce our own photo-assisted capacitance–voltage (C–V) technique, which is capable of identifying and examining near mid-gap interface states. Finally, we attempt to propose some directions to which some audience can venture for future development.

In this paper, we give an overview of the recent progress in GaN-based high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs) developed for mainstream acceptance in the power electronics field. The comprehensive investigation of AlGaN/GaN HEMTs fabricated on a free-standing semi-insulating GaN substrate reveals that an extracted effective lateral breakdown field of approximately 1 MV/cm is likely limited by the premature device breakdown originating from the insufficient structural and electrical quality of GaN buffer layers and/or the GaN substrate itself. The effective lateral breakdown field is increased to 2 MV/cm by using a highly resistive GaN substrate achieved by heavy Fe doping. Various issues relevant to current collapse are also discussed in the latter half of this paper, where a more pronounced reduction in current collapse is achieved by combining two different schemes (i.e., a prepassivation oxygen plasma treatment and a field plate structure) for intensifying the mitigating effect against current collapse. Finally, a novel approach to suppress current collapse is presented by introducing a three-dimensional field plate (3DFP) in AlGaN/GaN HEMTs, and its possibility of realizing true collapse-free operation is described.

Interface characterization was carried out on Al2O3/GaN structures using epitaxial n-GaN layers grown on free-standing GaN substrates with relatively low dislocation density (<3 × 106 cm−2). The Al2O3 layer was prepared by atomic layer deposition. The as-deposited metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) sample showed a significant frequency dispersion and a bump-like feature in capacitance-voltage (C–V) curves at reverse bias, showing high-density interface states in the range of 1012 cm−1 eV−1. On the other hand, excellent C–V characteristics with negligible frequency dispersion were observed from the MOS sample after annealing under a reverse bias at 300 °C in air for 3 h. The reverse-bias-annealed sample showed state densities less than 1 × 1011 cm−1 eV−1 and small shifts of flat-band voltage. In addition, the C–V curve measured at 200 °C remained essentially similar compared with the room-temperature C–V curves. These results indicate that the present process realizes a stable Al2O3/GaN interface with low interface state densities.

We develop and characterize multi-mesa-channel (MMC) AlGaN/GaN high-electron mobility transistors (HEMTs), in which a periodic trench structure is fabricated only under the gate electrode. A surrounding-field effect in the MMC structure results in a shallower threshold voltage and a smaller subthreshold slope than those of the standard planar-type HEMT. In addition, the MMC HEMT shows a low knee voltage and a weak dependence of on-resistance (R_ON) on the gate-drain distance. Following identical off-state bias stress, the MMC HEMT exhibits low current collapse. The relative decrease in access resistance of the MMC device compared with the planar device can reduce the effects of access resistance on the drain current. It is likely that a high impedance of each nanochannel also contributes to the current stability of the MMC HEMT.