Average Breakdown Field Research Articles

Epitaxy of >7 μm Thick GaN Drift Layers on 150 mm Si(111) Substrates Realizing Vertical PN Diodes with 1200 V Breakdown Voltage

Metal‐organic chemical vapor deposition growth of vertical GaN PN structures on 6″ Si(111) substrates enabling a 1200 V breakdown voltage is demonstrated. Thanks to an optimized buffer structure utilizing island growth in an AlN/Al0.1Ga0.9N superlattice, the threading dislocation density is drastically reduced, and sufficient compressive stress is incorporated in active GaN layers to compensate for the thermal mismatch. Crack‐free PN structures with drift layer thicknesses up to 7.4 μm are realized with a threading dislocation density of ≈5 × 108 cm−2 and an absolute wafer bow <50 μm. Quasi‐vertical PN diodes reveal a linear increase in the breakdown voltage with the drift layer thickness with an average breakdown field of ≈1.6 MV cm−1. Additionally, the leakage current is shown to decrease monotonically as the drift layer thickness increases. For a 7.4 μm thick drift layer with a net ionized donor concentration of 0.9 × 1016 cm−3, a high breakdown voltage of 1200 V, a low specific on‐resistance of 0.4 mΩ cm−2, and a low leakage current of 10−4 A cm−2 (at a reverse bias of 650 V) are obtained. These results demonstrate the great potential of cost‐effective vertical GaN‐on‐Si power devices operating in the kilovolt range.

Breakdown up to 13.5 kV in NiO/β-Ga2O3 Vertical Heterojunction Rectifiers

Vertical heterojunction NiO/β n-Ga2O/n+ Ga2O3 rectifiers with 100 μm diameter fabricated on ∼17–18 μm thick drift layers with carrier concentration 8.8 × 1015 cm−3 and employing simple dual-layer PECVD SiNx/SiO2 edge termination demonstrate breakdown voltages (VB) up to 13.5 kV, on-voltage (VON) of ∼2.2 V and on-state resistance RON of 11.1–12 mΩ.cm2. Without edge termination, the maximum VB was 7.9 kV. The average critical breakdown field in heterojunctions was ∼7.4–9.4 MV. cm−1, within the reported theoretical value range from 8–15 MV.cm−1 for β-Ga2O3. For large area (1 mm diameter) heterojunction deives, the maximum VB was 7.2 kV with optimized edge termination and 3.9 kV without edge termination. The associated maximum power figure-of-merit, VB 2/RON is 15.2 GW·cm−2 for small area devices and 0.65 GW.cm−2 for large area devices. By sharp contrast, small area Schottky rectifiers concurrently fabricated on the same drift layers had maximum VB of 3.6 kV with edge termination and 2.7 kV without edge termination, but lower VON of 0.71–0.75 V. The average critical breakdown field in these devices was in the range 1.9–2.7 MV. cm−1, showing the importance of both the heterojunction and edge termination. Transmission electron microscopy showed an absence of lattice damage between the PECVD and sputtered films within the device and the underlying epitaxial Ga2O3. The key advances are thicker, lower doped drift layers and optimization of edge termination design and deposition processes.

Experimental study of Ni/TiO2/β-Ga2O3 metal–dielectric–semiconductor diodes using p-NiO junction termination extension

This work demonstrates TiO2/β-Ga2O3 metal–dielectric–semiconductor (MDS) diodes with an average breakdown field beyond the material limits of SiC and GaN. These MDS diodes have lower conduction losses and higher breakdown voltage (Vbk) than the cofabricated Schottky barrier diodes (SBDs), simultaneously improving both on- and off-state parameters that are typically in competition with each other. With further optimized field management using p-NiO guard rings (GRs), the Ni/TiO2/β-Ga2O3 MDS diodes present a path to realistically utilize the high critical field of Ga2O3 without large forward conduction losses from a high-barrier junction. MDS diodes showed a lower Von (0.8 V) than the SBDs (1.1 V) from linear extrapolation of the current density-voltage (J-V) curve. The MDS diode had higher Vbk of 1190 V (3.0 MV/cm) compared to 685 V (2.3 MV/cm) for the SBD, and the MDS diode with the p-NiO guard ring saw further improvement with Vbk of 1776 V (3.7 MV/cm) compared to 826 V (2.5 MV/cm) for GR SBD. The BFOM (Vbk2/Ron,sp) of 518 MW/cm2 for the GR HJD is competitive with other literature results. A new figure of merit that includes the impact of turn on voltage is also proposed and demonstrated in this paper, which highlights how diodes perform in a practical high-power operation. This full paper is derived from the proceeding abstract of Willams et al. [IEEE Device Research Conference, Santa Barbara, CA, 25-28 June 2023 (IEEE, New York, 2023)].

RF operation of AlN/Al0.25Ga0.75N/AlN HEMTs with f T /f max of 67/166 GHz

We report on highly-scaled Al0.25Ga0.75N channel high electron mobility transistors. Regrown ohmic contacts covering the sidewall of the compressively strained Al0.25Ga0.75N channel exhibited a low contact resistance of R c = 0.23 Ω · mm. Scaled devices with a T-shaped gate showed record high speed for any AlGaN-based transistors, f T/f max = 67/166 GHz, while simultaneously achieving high average breakdown field exceeding 2 MV cm−1. The load-pull measurements performed at 10 GHz revealed a 20% peak power added efficiency with an output power density of 2 W mm−1, which is mainly limited by the RF dispersion.

Scaled β-Ga2O3 thin channel MOSFET with 5.4 MV/cm average breakdown field and near 50 GHz fMAX

This Letter reports a high performance β-Ga2O3 thin channel MOSFET with T gate and degenerately doped (n++) source/drain contacts regrown by metal organic chemical vapor deposition. Highly scaled T-gate with a gate length of 160–200 nm was fabricated to achieve enhanced RF performance and passivated with 200 nm silicon nitride. Peak drain current (ID,MAX) of 285 mA/mm and peak transconductance (gm) of 52 mS/mm were measured at 10 V drain bias with 23.5 Ω mm on resistance (RON). Metal/n++ contact resistance of 0.078 Ω mm was extracted from transfer length measurements. RON is possibly dominated by interface resistance between channel and highly doped n++ regrown layer. A gate-to-drain breakdown voltage of 192 V is measured for LGD = 355 nm resulting in average breakdown field (EAVG) of 5.4 MV/cm. This EAVG is the highest reported among all sub-micron gate length lateral FETs. Current gain cut off frequency (fT) of 11 GHz and record power gain cut off frequency (fMAX) of approximately 48 GHz were extracted from small signal measurements. fT is limited by DC-RF dispersion due to interface traps which needs further investigation. The fT·VBR product is 2.112 THz V for 192 V breakdown voltage. Device surpasses the switching figure of merit of Silicon and competitive with mature wide bandgap devices.

High-Mobility Tri-Gate β-Ga2O3 MESFETs With a Power Figure of Merit Over 0.9 GW/cm2

In this letter, fin-shape tri-gate $\beta$-Ga$_{2}$O$_{3}$ lateral MESFETs are demonstrated with a high power figure of merit of 0.95 GW/cm$^{2}$ - a record high for any $\beta$-Ga$_{2}$O$_{3}$ transistor to date. A low-temperature undoped buffer-channel stack design is developed which demonstrates record high Hall and drift electron mobilities in doped $\beta$-Ga$_{2}$O$_{3}$ channels allowing for low ON resistances R$_{ON}$ in $\beta$-Ga$_{2}$O$_{3}$ MESFETs. Fin-widths (W$_{fin}$) were 1.2-1.5 $\mu$m and there were 25 fins (N$_{fin}$) per device with a trench depth of $\sim$1$\mu$m. A $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ MESFET with a source-drain length of 6.4 $\mu$m exhibits a high ON current (187 mA/mm), low R$_{ON}$ (20.5 $\Omega$.mm) and a high average breakdown field (4.2 MV/cm). All devices show very low reverse leakage until catastrophic breakdown for breakdown voltages scaled from 1.1kV to $\sim$3kV. This work demonstrates the potential of channel engineering in improving $\beta$-Ga$_{2}$O$_{3}$ device performance toward lower conduction losses for low-to-medium voltage applications.

Low Buffer Trapping Effects above 1200 V in Normally off GaN-on-Silicon Field Effect Transistors.

We report on the fabrication and electrical characterization of AlGaN/GaN normally off transistors on silicon designed for high-voltage operation. The normally off configuration was achieved with a p-gallium nitride (p-GaN) cap layer below the gate, enabling a positive threshold voltage higher than +1 V. The buffer structure was based on AlN/GaN superlattices (SLs), delivering a vertical breakdown voltage close to 1.5 kV with a low leakage current all the way to 1200 V. With the grounded substrate, the hard breakdown voltage transistors at VGS = 0 V is 1.45 kV, corresponding to an outstanding average vertical breakdown field higher than 2.4 MV/cm. High-voltage characterizations revealed a state-of-the-art combination of breakdown voltage at VGS = 0 V together with low buffer electron trapping effects up to 1.4 kV, as assessed by means of substrate ramp measurements.

(Invited, Digital Presentation) Exploring the Potential and Limits of Gallium Oxide Electronics: In-Situ Dielectrics, Heterointegration and High-k Field Plates

The intrinsic properties of beta phase Gallium Oxide such as the high breakdown field strength makes it a very attractive material for next generation electronics. Rapid progress has been made over the last few years in pushing the performance of Gallium Oxide-based vertical Schottky diodes and lateral field effect transistors and impressive figure of merit has been reported. However, the device performance is farther from the expected performance based on intrinsic properties. Exploration of the intrinsic potential is rather limited by several factors such as the quality of dielectrics and dielectric/semiconductor interfaces, electric field management challenges due to the lack of p-type material, to name a few. In this work, we will highlight a few approaches to tackle some of these challenges.(1) In-situ dielectrics: High quality dielectric-semiconductor interfaces are critical for reliable high-performance transistors. We report in situ metal–organic chemical vapor deposition of Al2O3 on β-Ga2O3 as a potentially better alternative to the most commonly used atomic layer deposition (ALD) [1]. The growth of Al2O3 is performed in the same reactor as Ga2O3 using trimethylaluminum and O2 as precursors without breaking the vacuum at a growth temperature of 600 °C. The fast and slow near interface traps at the Al2O3/β-Ga2O3 interface are identified and quantified using stressed capacitance–voltage (CV) measurements on metal oxide semiconductor capacitor (MOSCAP) structures. The density of shallow and deep level initially filled traps (Dit) are measured using ultraviolet-assisted CV technique. The average Dit for the MOSCAP is determined to be 6.4 × 1011 cm−2eV−1. The conduction band offset of the Al2O3/ Ga2O3 interface is also determined from CV measurements and found out to be 1.7 eV which is in close agreement with the existing literature reports of ALD Al2O3/Ga2O3 interface. The current–voltage characteristics are also analyzed and the average breakdown field is extracted to be approximately 5.8 MV cm−1.(2) Field management using High-K field Plate: We report a vertical (001) β-Ga2O3 field-plated (FP) Schottky barrier diode (SBD) with a novel extreme permittivity dielectric field oxide [2] . A thin drift layer of 1.7μm was used to enable a punch-through (PT) field profile and very low differential specific on-resistance (Ron-sp) of 0.32 mΩ-cm2. The extreme permittivity field plate oxide facilitated the lateral spread of the electric field profile beyond the field plate edge and enabled a breakdown voltage (Vbr) of 687 V. The edge termination efficiency increases from 13.2%for non-field plated structure to 61% for high permittivity field plate structure. The high permittivity field plated SBD demonstrated a record high Baliga's figure of merit (BFOM) of 1.47 GW/cm2 showing the potential of Ga2O3 power devices for multi-kilovolt class applications.(3) p-type III-nitride/Ga2O3 integration for field management: This work presents the simulation and analysis of a novel Ga 2 O 3 vertical Schottky diode with three different guard ring (GR) configurations to reduce the peak electric field at the metal edges [3]. Highly doped p-type GaN, p-type nonpolar AlGaN, and polarization-doped graded p-AlGaN are simulated and analyzed as the GR material, which forms a heterojunction with the Ga 2 O 3 drift layer. GR with nonpolar graded p-AlGaN with a bandgap larger than Ga 2 O 3 is found to show the best performance in terms of screening the electric field at the metal edges. The proposed GR configuration is also compared with a reported Ga 2 O 3 Schottky diode with no GR and a structure with high-resistive nitrogen-doped GR. The optimized design is predicted to have a breakdown voltage as high as 6.2 kV and a specific ON-resistance of 3.55 mΩ-cm 2, which leads to an excellent power figure of merit of 10.8 GW/cm 2.The approaches discussed here can offer a pathway towards understanding the true potential and limitations of Gallium Oxide for extreme electric field devices. We acknowledge funding support from NSF (DMR-1931652) and the AFOSR MURI program (FA9550-18-1-0507).

Prediction of Breakdown Field Strength for Large-area and Multi-layer Film Dielectrics

The polymer film dielectric has been widely used in high voltage equipment for bulk insulation owing to the excellent insulation performance. Martin&#x2019;s empirical formula for bulk breakdown is frequently used to predict the breakdown field strength of multilayer thin film with different electrode areas. In this article, based on the academic consensus that the cumulative breakdown probability of single-layer film obeys the Weibull distribution, the relationship between the cumulative breakdown probability of film dielectric under different electrode areas and the applied electrical field is deduced. Moreover, the relationship between the cumulative breakdown probability of film dielectric with various numbers of film layers and the applied electrical field is obtained and simplified. On these bases, combined with the experimental results of the average breakdown field of film dielectric with smaller electrode areas and fewer layers, a prediction model of the average breakdown field strength of film dielectric with different electrode areas and film layers is established. To obtain the solution of the prediction model concerning the number of film layer, an effective approximate solution method is proposed to solve the calculation problem with ultralarge and ultrasmall data, which significantly reduces the complexity of the solution process. A coaxial film capacitor is developed and tested to verify the prediction model with the &#x201C;Chenguang&#x201D; accelerator. The experimental breakdown field strength of 54 layers of 15 <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mu \text{m}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> biaxially oriented polypropylene (BOPP) film with an electrode area of 218.1 cm² is 355.6 V/<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mu \text{m}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>, which is comparable to the predicted result of 374 V/<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mu \text{m}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>. The prediction model presented in this article is of certain reference significance for the insulation design of film dielectrics.

In Situ Dielectric Al2O3/β‐Ga2O3 Interfaces Grown Using Metal–Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition

AbstractHigh quality dielectric‐semiconductor interfaces are critical for reliable high‐performance transistors. This paper reports the in situ metal–organic chemical vapor deposition of Al2O3 on β‐Ga2O3 as a potentially better alternative to the most commonly used atomic layer deposition (ALD). The growth of Al2O3 is performed in the same reactor as Ga2O3 using trimethylaluminum and O2 as precursors without breaking the vacuum at a growth temperature of 600 °C. The fast and slow near interface traps at the Al2O3/β‐Ga2O3 interface are identified and quantified using stressed capacitance–voltage (CV) measurements on metal oxide semiconductor capacitor (MOSCAP) structures. The density of shallow and deep level initially filled traps (Dit) are measured using ultraviolet‐assisted CV technique. The average Dit for the MOSCAP is determined to be 6.4 × 1011 cm−2eV−1. The conduction band offset of the Al2O3/ Ga2O3 interface is also determined from CV measurements and found out to be 1.7 eV which is in close agreement with the existing literature reports of ALD Al2O3/Ga2O3 interface. The current–voltage characteristics are also analyzed and the average breakdown field is extracted to be approximately 5.8 MV cm−1. This in situ Al2O3 dielectric on β‐Ga2O3 with improved dielectric properties can enable Ga2O3‐based high‐performance devices.

Hybrid BaTiO3/SiNx/AlGaN/GaN lateral Schottky barrier diodes with low turn-on and high breakdown performance

In this Letter, we demonstrate hybrid GaN lateral Schottky barrier diodes with enhanced breakdown characteristics and a low turn-on voltage. These diodes incorporate a lateral Schottky barrier in combination with a high permittivity material beneath the field plate, enabling high average breakdown fields and a low turn-on voltage. Average electric fields up to 2.38 MV/cm were achieved for devices with an anode–cathode spacing of 4 μm, while maintaining with a turn-on voltage of 0.48 V. In contrast, SiNx/AlGaN/GaN control lateral Schottky diodes displayed an average breakdown field of ∼0.7 MV/cm for devices with similar dimensions with a turn-on voltage of 0.46 V. The use of a high-permittivity dielectric can more effectively utilize the high breakdown fields in wide bandgap materials by proper management of the electric field. This demonstration provides an innovative way to integrate high-permittivity materials with GaN lateral devices for improved breakdown and resistance characteristics.

Safety Distance Analysis of 500kV Transmission Line Tower UAV Patrol Inspection

Aiming at the problem that UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) is widely used in transmission line inspections, and the inspection safety distance control is not clear enough. Based on the relevant domestic standards and regulations for UAV inspection operations, this letter establishes a 500kV cat head Tower UAV inspection operation electromagnetic field simulation finite element model. The model uses the field decomposition method to decompose the three-dimensional unbounded field into bounded sub-areas, and calculates and obtains the electric and magnetic field changes around the wire and when the UAV is at different positions on the wire. Combined with the average breakdown field strength of the bar-to-plate gap and the UAV electromagnetic compatibility limit, the safe distance calculation method for the UAV power inspection is comprehensively determined. The application of this safety distance calculation method can improve the reliability and safety of the transmission line UAV when conducting inspection operations, and is of great significance for ensuring the safety of lines and equipment.

Challenges to overcome breakdown limitations in lateral β-Ga2O3 MOSFET devices

In this work, the fabrication of high-performance metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) on Si-doped homoepitaxial layers on (100) Mg-doped semi-insulating β-Ga2O3 substrates is demonstrated. Furthermore, the influence of additional gate and source field-plates is analyzed in regards to the breakdown properties of the MOSFET devices. The comparative study reveals comparable transistor performances of devices with and without field-plates showing maximum drain currents, on/off-current ratios and ON-resistances of ~75 mA/mm, 109 and 110 Ω∙mm, respectively. Moreover, both MOSFET structures show comparable breakdown voltages at around 1200 V which equals an average breakdown field strength of 2 MV/cm emphasizing no influence of the field-plates on the breakdown properties. Analysis of the thin film composition by secondary ion mass spectrometry on the processed β-Ga2O3 wafers indicates an increased concentration of silicon dopants at the interface between epitaxial layer and substrate. Our findings suggest that this might be the current main limitation factor in reaching higher breakdown voltages using field-plated β-Ga2O3 MOSFET devices.

Deep-Recessed β-Ga₂O₃ Delta-Doped Field-Effect Transistors With In Situ Epitaxial Passivation

We introduce a deep-recessed gate architecture in β-Ga <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> delta-doped field-effect transistors (FETs) for improvement in dispersion and breakdown properties. The device design incorporates an unintentionally doped (UID) β-Ga <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> layer as the passivation dielectric. To fabricate the device, the deep-recess geometry was developed using BCl <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</sub> plasma-based etching at 5 W reactive ion etching (RIE) power to ensure minimal plasma damage. Etch damage incurred with plasma etching was mitigated by annealing in vacuum at temperatures above 600 °C. A gate-connected field-plate edge termination was implemented for efficient field management. Negligible surface dispersion with lower knee walkout at high VDS, and better breakdown characteristics compared to their unpassivated counterparts were achieved. A three-terminal OFF-state breakdown voltage of 315 V, corresponding to an average breakdown field of 2.3 MV/cm was measured. The device breakdown was limited by the field-plate/passivation edge and presents scope for further improvement. This demonstration of epitaxially passivated FET is a significant step for β-Ga <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> technology since the structure simultaneously provides control of surface-related dispersion and excellent field management.

Electrostatic Engineering Using Extreme Permittivity Materials for Ultra-Wide Bandgap Semiconductor Transistors

The performance of ultra-wide bandgap semiconductors like β-Ga <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> is critically dependent on achieving high average electric fields within the active region of the device. In this article, we show that dielectrics like BaTiO <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</sub> with extremely high dielectric constant can provide an efficient field management strategy by improving the uniformity of electric field profile within the gate-drain region of lateral field-effect transistors. Using this strategy, we achieved high average breakdown field of 1.5 and 4 MV/cm at gate-drain spacing (L <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">gd</sub> ) of 6 and 0.5 μm, respectively in β-Ga <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> , at a high channel sheet charge density of 1.6 × 10 <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">13</sup> cm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">-2</sup> . The high channel charge density along with the high breakdown field enabled a record power figure of merit (V <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">br</sub> <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> /R <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">ON</sub> ) of 376 MW/cm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> at a gate-drain spacing of 3 μm.

Preparation of PI porous fiber membrane for recovering oil-paper insulation structure

PI fiber insulation paper has excellent insulation and heat resistance, which can replace traditional insulation paper to provide a new high-performance material. In this paper, we adopt a two-step method to synthesize PI, that is, firstly synthesize polyamic acid, and then perform electrospinning and thermal imidization to prepare PI porous fiber membrane. The test results show that the breakdown field strength of the PI porous film is 50 kV/mm. Further research shows that the insulation structure has the characteristics of continuous multiple breakdown. When the fiber film is repeatedly broken down to 25 times at the same point, the field strength of each breakdown of the fiber film changes between 40 and 55 kV/mm, and the average breakdown field strength is 53 kV/mm. Nano-Al2O3 was introduced into the fiber membrane by in situ polymerization. The breakdown field strength of the composite fiber film can reach 74.89 kV/mm after doping 2 wt% nano-Al2O3, which is higher than that of the pure film. At the same time, this kind of fiber paper also has repeatable breakdown characteristics, and the breakdown voltage distribution width of multiple breakdown is reduced. This characteristic provides the maintenance free characteristic of DC over-voltage for the insulation structure composed of this fiber paper, and can improve the service life of transformer under DC over-voltage such as lightning stroke.

145-MW/cm2 Heteroepitaxial Diamond MOSFETs With NO2 p-Type Doping and an Al2O3 Passivation Layer

In this study, we investigated diamond metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs) with NO <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> p-type doping and 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> passivation layer fabricated on a high-quality heteroepitaxial single crystal (001) diamond substrate called Kenzan diamond <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">®</sup> . MOSFETs with a gate length of 1.4 <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mu \text{m}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> and nearly zero source-gate spacing exhibited a high drain current density of −776 mA/mm with a negligible gate leakage current ( <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$&lt; 0.1~\mu \text{A}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> /mm). MOSFETs with a gate-to-drain length of 4.8 <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mu \text{m}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> delivered a high off-state breakdown voltage (−618 V) at an average breakdown field of 1.2 MV/cm and a specific on-resistance of 2.63 <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> . Baliga’s Figure-Of-Merits was calculated as 145 MW/cm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> and the anticipated maximum power density was 12 W/mm. The diamond MOSFET was improved with high crystal quality.

BaTiO3/Al0.58Ga0.42N lateral heterojunction diodes with breakdown field exceeding 8 MV/cm

In this Letter, we demonstrate a Pt/BaTiO3/Al0.58Ga0.42N lateral heterojunction diode with enhanced breakdown characteristics. By using BaTiO3, a high-k material, as a dielectric material between the anode and semiconductor, the peak electric field at the anode edge near the cathode was significantly reduced and an average breakdown field exceeding 8 MV/cm was achieved for devices with an anode to cathode spacing of &amp;lt;0.2 μm. In contrast, Pt/Al0.58Ga0.42N control Schottky diodes displayed an average breakdown field of ∼4 MV/cm for devices with similar dimensions. The use of a high-k dielectric can more effectively utilize the high breakdown fields in ultra-wide bandgap materials by proper management of the electric field. This demonstration thus provides a framework to realize ultra-scaled lateral devices with improved breakdown characteristics.

Low On-Resistance H-Diamond MOSFETs With 300 °C ALD-Al2O3Gate Dielectric

C-H diamond metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistors with different structures were fabricated on the same polycrystalline diamond plate. Devices A and B with 25-nm-thick high temperature (300°C) atomic layer deposition grown Al2O3 dielectric have the same source-to-drain distance of $6~\mu \text{m}$ and different gate length of $2~\mu \text{m}$ and $6~\mu \text{m}$ , respectively. Both devices show ultra-high on/off ratio of over 1010 and ultra-low gate leakage of below 10−10 A and continuous measurement stability. Device B with the source/drain-channel interspaces eliminated has achieved an on resistance of $46.20~\Omega \cdot $ mm, which is record low in the reported 6- $\mu \text{m}$ H-diamond MOSFETs with the gate dielectric prepared at high temperature (≥ 300°C). Meanwhile, device B shows larger drain current in a large portion of the linear region at VGS = −6 V, and a just slightly smaller IDmax compared with device A though its LG is three times of that of device A. A simple model of ID was used to explain the physics behind this phenomenon. In addition, the breakdown voltage is 145 V for device A and 27 V for device B, corresponding to the average breakdown field of about 0.72 MV/cm and 10.8 MV/cm, respectively.

All MOCVD grown Al0.7Ga0.3N/Al0.5Ga0.5N HFET: An approach to make ohmic contacts to Al-rich AlGaN channel transistors

We report a gate recessed Al0.7Ga0.3N/Al0.5Ga0.5N heterostructure field effect transistor (HFET) with a graded contact cap layer grown by metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) on AlN/Sapphire substrate. A low specific contact resistivity ρc of 2.1 × 10−5 Ω·cm2 is demonstrated with current injection from the top of the Al0.7Ga0.3N barrier to the Al0.5Ga0.5N channel. The device with a gate length of 160 nm exhibits a drain current density at gate shorted to source (ID,SS) of 420 mA/mm, a cutoff frequency fT of 20 GHz, and a maximum oscillation frequency (fmax) of 40 GHz. The same device has a three terminal off-state gate-to-drain breakdown voltage of 170 V, corresponding to an average breakdown field (FBR) of 2.8 MV/cm between the gate and drain, due to drain induced barrier lowering effect. Devices with a gate length of 1 µm demonstrate a gate to drain breakdown voltage of 195 V or an average breakdown field of 3.9 MV/cm. This work provides a way to make ohmic contacts to Al-rich AlGaN channel heterojunction transistors for high power and high frequency applications.