Résumé
Surface-trap effects are shown to be of main importance to understand the working principle of a two-terminal device based on AlGaN/GaN nanochannels. A deep knowledge of the physical mechanism governing the behavior of the current flow may allow developing physical models for the surface traps to be implemented in other tools to improve the potential capability of these devices as microwave power detectors. The carrier trapping/de-trapping processes at the boundary surfaces are of special interest, not only because of their influence on the level of the current flowing along the nanochannels, but also because of their impact in the saturation of the I–V curve. In this work, based on Monte Carlo simulations where traps are implemented using two different models, we replicate the experimental behavior of current transients, identify the differences between the surface charge distributions under forward and reverse bias and provide an explanation for the saturation of the I–V curve of the nanochannels.