The Energy Dependence of Proton-Induced Degradation in AlGaN/GaN High Electron Mobility Transistors

The effects of proton irradiation at various energies are reported for AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs). The devices exhibit little degradation when irradiated with 15-, 40-, and 105-MeV protons at fluences up to 10/sup 13/ cm/sup -2/, and the damage completely recovers after annealing at room temperature. For 1.8-MeV proton irradiation, the drain saturation current decreases 10.6% and the maximum transconductance decreases 6.1% at a fluence of 10/sup 12/ cm/sup -2/. The greater degradation measured at the lowest proton energy considered here is caused by the much larger nonionizing energy loss of the 1.8-MeV protons.