Review on Main Gate Characteristics of P-Type GaN Gate High-Electron-Mobility Transistors

Zhongxu Wang; Jiao Nan; Zhiwen Tian; Pei Liu; Yinhe Wu; Jincheng Zhang

doi:10.3390/mi15010080

Review on Main Gate Characteristics of P-Type GaN Gate High-Electron-Mobility Transistors

Micromachines (Basel). 2023 Dec 30;15(1):80. doi: 10.3390/mi15010080.

Authors

Zhongxu Wang¹, Jiao Nan¹, Zhiwen Tian², Pei Liu², Yinhe Wu³, Jincheng Zhang^{1

3}

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory for Wide Bandgap Semiconductor Materials and Devices, School of Microelectronics, Xidian University, Xi'an 710071, China.
² China Astronautics Standards Institute, Beijing 100071, China.
³ Guangzhou Wide Bandgap Semiconductor Innovation Center, Guangzhou Institute of Technology, Xidian University, Guangzhou 510555, China.

Abstract

As wide bandgap semiconductors, gallium nitride (GaN) lateral high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs) possess high breakdown voltage, low resistance and high frequency performance. PGaN gate HEMTs are promising candidates for high-voltage, high-power applications due to the normally off operation and robust gate reliability. However, the threshold and gate-breakdown voltages are relatively low compared with Si-based and SiC-based power MOSFETs. The epitaxial layers and device structures were optimized to enhance the main characteristics of pGaN HEMTs. In this work, various methods to improve threshold and gate-breakdown voltages are presented, such as the top-layer optimization of the pGaN cap, hole-concentration enhancement, the low-work-function gate electrode, and the MIS-type pGaN gate. The discussion of the main gate characteristic enhancement of p-type GaN gate HEMTs would accelerate the development of GaN power electronics to some extent.

Keywords: breakdown field; gallium nitride; gate-breakdown voltage; p-type doped gallium nitride high-electron-mobility transistor (p-GaN HEMT); threshold voltage.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

This work was supported in part by the National Key Research and Development Program of China under Grants 2022YFB3604203 and 2021YFB3600019, in part by the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars under Grant 61925404, and in part by the Major Projects of Shanxi Province under Grant no. 20201102012.