TY - GEN
T1 - Improvement of the dynamic on-resistance characteristics of GaN-on-Si power transistors with a sloped field-plate
AU - Li, Zijian
AU - Chu, Rongming
AU - Zehnder, Daniel
AU - Khalil, Sameh
AU - Chen, Mary
AU - Chen, Xu
AU - Boutros, Karim
PY - 2014
Y1 - 2014
N2 - High Electron Mobility Transistors (HEMTs) based on GaN are attractive for high-speed and high-voltage applications. The performance advantages of the GaN HEMTs rely on the high breakdown field of the GaN material and the high electron mobility of the 2-dimesional electron gas (2DEG) in the AlGaN/GaN heterojunction [1, 2]. In order to take full advantage of the excellent material properties, the shape of the electric-field distribution in the GaN HEMTs must be carefully optimized to operate the device at its highest switching speed while handling a large voltage swing. Without proper field-shaping, a high electric-field can cause electron injection into traps, hence degrading the output current and on-resistance during switching operation. This phenomenon is often referred to as dynamic on-resistance (Ron dynamic) degradation, current collapse or DC-RF dispersion. As an effective approach of shaping the electric-field, the use of field-plates in GaN HEMTs has received extensive studies [3]. For microwave applications, a V-shaped gate with integrated sloped field-plate was used to control the electric-field with minimal added capacitance associated with the field-plate [5, 6]. For high-voltage applications, a multiple field-plates structure was used to scale up the operating voltage [2, 4]. In this paper, we report a sloped field-plate approach for high-voltage applications.
AB - High Electron Mobility Transistors (HEMTs) based on GaN are attractive for high-speed and high-voltage applications. The performance advantages of the GaN HEMTs rely on the high breakdown field of the GaN material and the high electron mobility of the 2-dimesional electron gas (2DEG) in the AlGaN/GaN heterojunction [1, 2]. In order to take full advantage of the excellent material properties, the shape of the electric-field distribution in the GaN HEMTs must be carefully optimized to operate the device at its highest switching speed while handling a large voltage swing. Without proper field-shaping, a high electric-field can cause electron injection into traps, hence degrading the output current and on-resistance during switching operation. This phenomenon is often referred to as dynamic on-resistance (Ron dynamic) degradation, current collapse or DC-RF dispersion. As an effective approach of shaping the electric-field, the use of field-plates in GaN HEMTs has received extensive studies [3]. For microwave applications, a V-shaped gate with integrated sloped field-plate was used to control the electric-field with minimal added capacitance associated with the field-plate [5, 6]. For high-voltage applications, a multiple field-plates structure was used to scale up the operating voltage [2, 4]. In this paper, we report a sloped field-plate approach for high-voltage applications.
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U2 - 10.1109/DRC.2014.6872395
DO - 10.1109/DRC.2014.6872395
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:84906541015
SN - 9781479954056
T3 - Device Research Conference - Conference Digest, DRC
SP - 257
EP - 258
BT - 72nd Device Research Conference, DRC 2014 - Conference Digest
PB - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
T2 - 72nd Device Research Conference, DRC 2014
Y2 - 22 June 2014 through 25 June 2014
ER -