Fig. 4: The origin and characterization of the latching effect.

a, Transfer characteristics for varying V_DS. b, I_G–V_GS for the plots in a. c,d, Band diagram generated by self-consistent solution of drift-diffusion and Poisson’s equation in three dimensions cut along an AlGaN/GaN interface in the on state (c) and the subthreshold region (d). E_C, E_F and E_V represent conduction band, electron fermi level and valence band energies, respectively. The holes and electrons generated during impact ionization are represented in the valence band and conduction band, respectively. e, I_D–V_GS in subthreshold regime at the onset of SS < 2.3 kT q⁻¹ for temperatures from 100 K to 300 K in steps of 50 K. To determine the onset, V_DS was swept in steps of 1 V from 6 V to 14 V at each temperature. The table indicates these V_DS onset values at which SS < 2.3 kT q⁻¹ for each temperature. Inset: the variation of SS as a function of V_DS at 300 K. f, The latching process with hysteresis window over 30 runs with ΔV_GS of 200 mV.