Characterization of vertical GaN p–n diodes and junction field-effect transistors on bulk GaN down to cryogenic temperatures

Abstract

There is great interest in wide-bandgap semiconductor devices and most recently in vertical GaN structures for power electronic applications such as power supplies, solar inverters and motor drives. In this paper the temperature-dependent electrical behavior of vertical GaN p–n diodes and vertical junction field-effect transistors fabricated on bulk GaN substrates of low defect density (104 to 106 cm−2) is described. Homoepitaxial MOCVD growth of GaN on its native substrate and the ability to control the doping in the drift layers in GaN have allowed the realization of vertical device architectures with drift layer thicknesses of 6 to 40 μm and net carrier electron concentrations as low as 1 × 1015 cm−3. This parameter range is suitable for applications requiring breakdown voltages of 1.2 kV to 5 kV. Mg, which is used as a p-type dopant in GaN, is a relatively deep acceptor (EA ≈ 0.18 eV) and susceptible to freeze-out at temperatures below 200 K. The loss of holes in p-GaN has a deleterious effect on p–n junction behavior, p-GaN contacts and channel control in junction field-effect transistors at temperatures below 200 K. Impact ionization-based avalanche breakdown (BV > 1200 V) in GaN p–n junctions is characterized between 77 K and 423 K for the first time. At higher temperatures the p–n junction breakdown voltage improves due to increased phonon scattering. A positive temperature coefficient in the breakdown voltage is demonstrated down to 77 K; however, the device breakdown characteristics are not as abrupt at temperatures below 200 K. On the other hand, contact resistance to p-GaN is reduced dramatically above room temperature, improving the overall device performance in GaN p–n diodes in all cases except where the n-type drift region resistance dominates the total forward resistance. In this case, the electron mobility can be deconvolved and is found to decrease with T−3/2, consistent with a phonon scattering model. Also, normally-on vertical junction field-effect transistors with BV = 1000 V and drain currents of 4 A are fabricated and characterized over the same temperature range. It is demonstrated that vertical GaN devices (diodes and transistors) utilizing p–n junctions are suitable for most practical applications including automotive ones (210 K < T < 423 K). While devices are functional at cryogenic temperatures (77 K) there may be some limitations to their performance due the freeze-out of Mg acceptors.