Novel Nitride Passivation on 0.15 Pm Pseudomorphic GaAs HEMTs Using High-Density Inductively Coupled Plasma CVD (HD-ICP-CVD)

A novel nitride passivation on 0.15 Pm pseudomorphic GaAs HEMTs using high-density inductively coupled plasma CVD (HD-ICP-CVD) is reported. The nitride films deposited by HD-ICP-CVD have a lower BOE wet etch rate (high density) and lower hydrogen concentration than those nitride films deposited by PECVD. A successful demonstration of DC/RF performance and its thermal stability in HD-ICP-CVD passivated PHEMTs and MMIC performance comparable to that of MMICs passivated by PECVD promises the applications of HD-ICP-CVD nitride deposition for the next-generation passivation technique in compound semiconductor industry