Incorporation of the Virtual Gate Effect and Consequences of its Neglect in the Simulation of ON-State $\pmb{I}_{\pmb{D}}-\pmb{V}_{\pmb{DS}}$ Curves of AlGaN/GaN HEMTs

Abstract

We propose a simple method for incorporating the virtual gate effect present in Aluminum Gallium Nitride (AlGaN) / Gallium Nitride (GaN) High Electron Mobility Transistors (HEMTs) in numerical simulation of their ON-state current-voltage characteristics. Further, we show that the simulations which match the measured ON-state data neglecting the virtual gate effect end up employing an electron saturation velocity versus gate bias behavior that is qualitatively unphysical.