Optimization AlGaN/GaN HEMT with Field Plate Structures

Ningping Shi; Kejia Wang; Bing Zhou; Jiafu Weng; Zhiyuan Cheng

doi:10.3390/mi13050702

Optimization AlGaN/GaN HEMT with Field Plate Structures

Micromachines (Basel). 2022 Apr 29;13(5):702. doi: 10.3390/mi13050702.

Authors

Ningping Shi¹, Kejia Wang², Bing Zhou^{1

3}, Jiafu Weng¹, Zhiyuan Cheng²

Affiliations

¹ School of Materials Science and Engineering, Key Laboratory of New Processing Technology for Nonferrous Metals and Materials of Ministry of Education, Collaborative Innovation Center for Exploration of Nonferrous Metal Deposits and Efficient Utilization of Resources, Guilin University of Technology, Guilin 541004, China.
² School of Micro-Nano Electronics, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China.
³ Ningbo Haitechuang Electric Control Co., Ltd., Ningbo 315000, China.

Abstract

AlGaN/GaN HEMTs with several different designs of field plate structure are studied for device optimization purposes. To increase device breakdown voltage, optimal dimensions of field plates were first investigated using Silvaco TCAD software, and the electrical characteristics of the devices are analyzed. Several devices were designed and fabricated based on the simulation results. It has been confirmed that the gate-source composite field plate (SG-FP) has a higher breakdown voltage than other types of field plate structures, with FOM reaches 504 MW/cm^-2, showing that the device with SG-FP structure outperforms the other three structures. The experiment and simulation verify that the gate-source composite field plate optimizes FOM by increasing the breakdown voltage and reducing the intrinsic on-resistance so that the device has better electrical performance and a wider application range.

Keywords: FOM; GaN HEMT; TCAD simulation; breakdown voltage; field plate.

Grants and funding

This work was supported by Ningbo “Technology Innovation 2025” Major Project under Grant 2018B10101 and 2018B10098, Foundation of Guilin University of Technology (GUTQDJJ2018031).