Capacitance swing and capacitance ratio of GaN-based metal-semiconductor-metal two-dimensional electron gas varactor with different dielectric films

The performance of the AlGaN/GaN MSM-2DEG varactor with different dielectric films deposited by the E-beam deposition is investigated in detail. The capacitance swing and the capacitance ratio of the varactor without dielectric film as well as with, SiO₂, Gd₂O₃, and Si₃N₄films, respectively, are determined by electrodes of varying areas. The maximum capacitance, the minimum capacitance and the capacitance ratios are proportional to the increasing of the electrode areas. The capacitance ratio determined by the maximum and the minimum capacitance is found to be 18.35 (with Si₃N₄ dielectric film) and 149.51 (without dielectric film), respectively. The transition voltages of the fabricated varactors are almost the same for a bias voltage of about ±5 V and leakage current can be lower three orders of magnitude while the varactors with dielectric films. The tunability of the capacitance ratio makes the AlGaN/GaN MSM-2DEG varactor with a dielectric film highly useful in multirange applications of a surge free preamplier.