Simulation design of a high-breakdown-voltage p-GaN-gate GaN HEMT with a hybrid AlGaN buffer layer for power electronics applications

Abstract

We propose a novel GaN high-breakdown-voltage high-electron-mobility transistor (HB-HEMT) with a p-GaN gate and hybrid AlGaN buffer to improve the breakdown voltage and Baliga’s figure of merit. The hybrid AlGaN buffer is composed of a horizontally arranged AlaGa1−aN zone and an AlbGa1−bN zone, each having different Al compositions a and b. The proposed HB-HEMT is simulated using the Silvaco technology computer-aided design (TCAD) tool ATLAS, considering the polarization model, low-field mobility, high-field mobility, and Selberherr’s impact ionization model to simulate the direct-current (DC), breakdown, and C–V properties of the proposed HB-HEMT. The breakdown voltage of the HB-HEMT is significantly improved by introducing the hybrid AlGaN buffer structure, which can effectively modulate the electric field distributions within the channel and the buffer. A high breakdown voltage (1450 V), a low specific on-state resistance (0.47 mΩ cm2), and a high Baliga’s figure of merit (4.47 GW/cm2) are obtained at the same time with an Lgd (gate-to-drain distance) of 6 µm, a distance from the gate to the AlaGa1−aN/AlbGa1−bN interface of 4 µm, and Al compositions of a = 0.25 and b = 0.1. The simulated C–V results also reveal that the GaN HB-HEMT shows better switching characteristics than the conventional GaN HEMT with a p-GaN gate.