Spatially resolved heavy ion microprobe testing of lateral Ga2O3 MOSFETs
Year: 2026
Type: other
Abstract: Ultrawide bandgap β-Ga2O3 has been intensively researched for power electronics applications after the first demonstration of high quality MOSFETs and MESFETs in 2012. Testing of β-Ga2O3 transistor structures under heavy ion irradiation is relatively unexplored despite its criticality in developing next-generation radiation-hardened electronics for space applications. Single ion irradiation was performed with 192 MeV Ar and 1182 MeV Au and a lateral spatial resolution of ~0.5 µm to map the electrical characteristics of β-Ga2O3 MOSFETs as a function of irradiation position and identify the most sensitive regions of the device. This work determines that standard Ga2O3 MOSFETs are not susceptible to single event burnout under in-operando irradiation under an applied field of 0.83 MV/cm for Ar irradiation as well as an applied field of 0.07 MV/cm for Au irradiation. Successive irradiations reveal transient increases in drain current associated with threshold voltage shifts attributed to defect generation/ionization in the top ALD Al2O3 dielectric or the semi-insulating Ga2O3 substrate and subsequent thermal relaxation. Fitting in-situ transfer curve data reveals that the dominant effect under heavy ion irradiation is the activation of the parasitic channel via the generation of net-positive charge at the buffer-substrate interface.
Source: AIP Publishing
Language: English
Topic: Ga2O3 and related materials
Field: Materials Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7223686684