The I-V characteristics of AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors in the temperature range between 100 K and 300 K are studied. It is found that both the maximum drain-source current and transconductance decrease with the increase of temperature. Decrease of the electron mobility with increasing temperature is considered to be the main cause for that condition. The threshold voltage shows a forward shift, which can be explained by the increase of Schottky barrier with increasing temperature. It is found that at VGS = 0 V the drain-source current reduces with the ascending temperature, which should be due to the variation of the electron mobility with the temperature. While at VGS = −5 V the drain-source current is found to increase with the ascending temperature, it is suggested to be caused by the positive temperature coefficient of the electron transport in the depleted region.

The temperature dependence of the I-V characteristics on Au/Ni-HEMT Schottky contacts was measured and analyzed. Large deviations from the thermionic emission and thermionic-field emission model were observed in the I-V-T characteristics. The thin surface barrier model only fits the measured curves in the high bias region, but deviates drastically in the low bias region. Using a revised thin surface barrier model, the calculated curves match well with the measured curves. It is also found that tunneling emission model is the dominant current transport mechanism at low temperature, yet thermionic-field emission model is the dominant current transport mechanism at high temperature.

This is a theoretical study of the InGaN back-barrier on the properties of the Al03Ga0.7N/AlN/GaN/InGaN/GaN HEMT structure by self-consistently solving coupled Schrödinger and Poisson equations. Our calculation shows that by increasing the indium composition, the conduction band of the GaN buffer layer is raised and the confinement of 2DEG is improved. However, the additional quantum well formed by InGaN becomes deeper, inducing and confining more electrons in it. Another conductive channel is formed which may impair the device performance. With the increasing InGaN thickness, the well depth remains the same and the conduction band of GaN buffer layer rises, enhancing the confinement of the 2DEG without inducing more electrons in the well. The 2DEG sheet density decreases slightly with the indium composition and the physical mechanism is discussed. Low indium composition and thick InGaN back-barrier layer are beneficial to mitigate the short-channel effects, especially for high-frequency devices.

Unintentionally doped 3C–SiC (111) films were grown on TiC (111) substrates. The films were characterized by electrical measurements employing Pt Schottky contacts, optical microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The observed current-voltage (I-V) characteristics appear to be dominated by space-charge-limited-current (SCLC) conduction in the films. Analysis of the I-V characteristics has resulted in information pertaining to the electrically active defects in the films. These active defects are believed to be associated with stacking faults and point defects present in the films and contribute to traps at ∼0.656 eV below the conduction band edge. The concentration of traps was found to vary with film thickness and surface morphology.