Develop physical models of aluminum gallium nitride (algan)/gallium nitride (GAN)-based high-electron-mobility transistor (hemt) devices for counter intuitive physics of short channel devices

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) awarded a $122,360 Cooperative Agreement grant under the Measurement and Engineering Research and Standards (CFDA 11.609) program to Theiss Research, a non-profit research organization in La Jolla, California. The purpose of this 1-year grant, with a performance period from October 1, 2024 to September 30, 2025, is to develop physical models of aluminum gallium nitride (AlGaN)/gallium nitride (GaN)-based high-electron-mobility transistor (HEMT) devices to study the counter-intuitive physics of short-channel devices. The researchers will build new transport property models for GaN-based HEMT devices of various geometries, accounting for phenomena like self-heating dynamic effects and ballistic mobilities in the 2D electron gas at the GaN/AlGaN interface. The resulting multi-physics compact and technology computer-aided design (TCAD) models will be delivered to NIST and other researchers to enable accurate and experimentally validated simulation of wide-bandgap, high-frequency, high-power devices. There are no planned subawards under this grant.

Purpose

The purpose of this project is to develop physical models of aluminum gallium nitride (algan)/gallium nitride (GAN)-based high-electron-mobility transistor (hemt) devices for counter intuitive physics of short channel devices.

Activities

The researchers will build a new model of transport properties of gallium nitride (GAN)-based high-electron-mobility transistor (hemt) devices of various geometries and accounting for device physics phenomena such as self-heating dynamic effects and ballistic mobilities in 2D electron gas at the GAN/aluminum gallium nitride (algan) interface.

Expected outcomes

The researchers are developing multi-physics compact and technology computer-aided design (tcad) models for GAN-based hemt devices and delivering these models to NIST and other researchers so that these improved models can be used for accurate and experimentally validated/verified simulation of wide-band-GAP high-frequency, high-power devices.

Intended beneficiaries

The model generated from this research can be used by NIST and other researchers working to experiment with and validate wide-band-GAP high-frequency, high-power devices.

Subrecipient activities

The recipient does not intend to subaward funds.