Results of an extensive study on the irradiation damage and its recovery be
havior resulting from thermal annealing in AlGaAs/GaAs pseudomorphic high e
lectron mobility transistors (HEMTs) subjected to a 220-MeV carbon, 1-MeV e
lectrons and 1-MeV fast neutrons are presented. The drain current and effec
tive mobility decrease after irradiation, while the threshold voltage incre
ases in positive direction, The decrease of the drain current and mobility
is thought to be due to the scattering of channel electrons with the induce
d lattice defects and also to the decrease of the electron density in the t
wo dimensional electron gas region. Isochronal thermal annealing shows that
the device performance degraded by the irradiation recovers. The decreased
drain current for output characteristics recovers by 75% of pre-rad value
after 300 degreesC thermal annealing for AlGaAs HEMTs irradiated by carbon
particles with a fluence of 1 x 10(12) cm(-2) The influence of the material
s and radiation source on the degradation is also discussed with respect to
the nonionizing energy loss. Those are mainly attributed to the difference
of particle mass and the probability of nuclear collision for the formatio
n of lattice defect in Si-doped AlGaAs donor layer. A comparison is also ma
de with results obtained on irradiated InGaP/InGaAs p-HEMTs in order to inv
estigate the effect of the constituent atom. The damage coefficient of AlGa
As HEMTs is also about one order greater than that of InGaP HEMTs for the s
ame radiation source. The materials and radiation source dependence of perf
ormance degradation is mainly thought to be attributed to the difference of
mass and the possibility of nuclear collision for the formation of lattice
defects in Si-doped donor layer. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights
reserved.