G. Sonia, E. Richter, F. Brunner, A. Denker, R. Lossy, M. Mai, Friedrich Lenk, J. Bundesmann, G. Pensl, J. Schmidt, U. Zeimer, L. Wang, K. Baskar, M. Weyers, Joachim Würfl, Günther Tränkle
- AlGaN/GaN heterostructure field effect transistors (HFETs) were irradiated with 2 MeV protons, carbon, oxygen, iron and krypton ions with fluences ranging from 1 × 109 cm−2 to 1 × 1013 cm−2. DC, pulsed I–V characteristics, loadpull and S-parameters of the AlGaN HFET devices were measured before and after irradiation. In parallel, a thick GaN reference layer was also irradiated with the same ions and was characterized by X-ray diffraction, photoluminescence, Hall measurements before and after irradiation. Small changes in the device performance were observed after irradiation with carbon and oxygen at a fluence of 5 × 1010 cm−2. Remarkable changes in device characteristics were seen at a fluence of 1 × 1012 cm−2 for carbon, oxygen, iron and krypton irradiation. Similarly, remarkable changes were also observed in the GaN layer for irradiations with fluence of 1 × 1012 cm−2. The results found on devices and on the GaN layer were compared and correlated.