1300 V Normally-OFF p-GaN Gate HEMTs on Si With High ON-State Drain Current

Abstract

In this article, we demonstrate normally-OFF p-GaN gate high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) on Si with an ultrahigh breakdown voltage ( <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${V}_{BR}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> ) and excellent saturation drain current. Benefiting from the optimized material growth of high-resistivity buffer, effective Al <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> O <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</sub> surface passivation with suppressed OFF-state leakage current, and proper management of the electric field on the p-GaN gate edge, the device with a gate–drain distance of <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$18.5~\mu \text{m}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> exhibits a <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${V}_{BR}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> of 1344 V at <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${I}_{D}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> of <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$1~\mu \text{A}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> /mm with grounded substrates, the highest among all the reported normally-OFF GaN-on-Si transistors. Well-restored high-density 2-D electron gas and efficient gate modulation enable the device with a high <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${I}_{DS,max}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> of 450 mA/mm and a low specific ON-resistance of 3.92 <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\text{m}\Omega \cdot $ </tex-math></inline-formula> cm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> . Moreover, a large threshold voltage of 1.6 V (at <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${I}_{D}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> of <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$10~\mu \text{A}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> /mm) and a steep subthreshold slope of 66 mV/dec have been achieved, with negligible threshold voltage shift upon long-term forward gate stress at 150 °C. These results illustrate the great potential of p-GaN gate HEMTs on Si for beyond 600-V applications.