Proton and Heavy Ion Irradiation Effects on AlGaN/GaN HFET Devices

Operation of AlGaN/GaN HFETs in space was simulated by irradiation with protons and heavy ions at 68 MeV and 2MeV and fluences up to 1013cm-2. Before and after irradiation dc and pulsed I-V characteristics of the AlGaN HFET devices were measured. A thick GaN reference layer was characterized by photoluminescence, X-ray diffraction and Hall measurements before and after irradiation. The results of the material characterization correlate with the device results. High energy (68 MeV) irradiation has no impact on device performance while high fluences at lower energy (2 MeV) result in degradation