SiN(x)/(Al,Ga)N interface barrier in N-polar III-nitride transistor structures studied by modulation spectroscopy

Contactless electroreflectance studies coupled with numerical calculations are performed on in-situ SiN(x) capped N-polar III-nitride high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) structures with a scaled channel thickness in order to analyse the built-in electric field in the GaN channel layer. The experimentally obtained field values are compared with the calculated field versus channel thickness curves. Furthermore, the experimental and theoretical sheet carrier densities, n(s), are evaluated. While a gradual decrease in carrier concentration with decreasing channel thickness is expected for N-polar structures, experimentally a sudden drop in the ns values is observed for samples with very thin channels. The additional loss in charge was associated with a change in the SiN(x)/AlGaN interface Fermi level at very thin channel thicknesses.