Increasing the breakdown voltage in gate – Field plate High Electron Mobility Transistor using a surface field distribution layer and gate-drain edge passivation

Abstract

We investigate the breakdown characteristics of AlGaN/GaN High Electron Mobility Transistor (HEMT) with surface field distribution layer (SFDL) and gate-drain edge passivation. We employ an SFDL to redistribute the surface electric field at the gate-drain edge. The combination of SFDL with gate-drain edge (Si3N4) passivation results in a considerable reduction in the peak electric field at the gate-drain edge, as well as a reduction in the HEMT device's gate-leakage current. The influence of field plate (FP) length on breakdown voltage is investigated and compared with our suggested HEMT. Our analysis reveals that the combined effect of SFDL and gate-drain edge passivation for optimized gate – Field Plate HEMT reduces the peak electric field at the gate-drain edge by five times and increases the breakdown voltage by three times.