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Low-loss reverse-conducting normally- OFF double-channel AlGaN/GaN power transistor with the built-in Schottky barrier diode (SBD) has been systematically studied. This device features the MOS-gate section and SBD-anode section paralleled to an interdigital layout along the gate width direction. A common access region that conducts current at both forward and reverse ON-states is employed, which is beneficial to reduce the conduction loss. With a MOS-HEMT/SBD finger width of ${4}~\mu \text{m}/2~\mu \text{m}$ and a total width ratio of 2:1, the device exhibits a threshold voltage of +0.8 V at a drain current of ${10}~\mu \text{A}$ /mm and a low forward ON-resistance of $12.1~\Omega \cdot \text {mm}$. The Schottky metal contacts 2-DEG directly, which results in a low reverse turn-on voltage of −0.6 V (at −1 mA/mm) and low reverse ON-state voltage of −1.7 V (at −50 mA/mm). A leakage suppression MOS field plate (FP) is applied to shield the Schottky contact from the strong electric field, leading to a low OFF-state leakage current of 14 nA/mm at +100-V drain bias and a high breakdown voltage (BV) of +698 V. The finger width and the number of fingers should be optimized. A narrow finger width benefits the current sharing at the access region, while the increasing number of fingers introduces more Schottky depletion regions along the gate width direction that degrade ${R}_{ \mathrm{\scriptscriptstyle ON}}$. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we systematically investigated the leakage and breakdown mechanisms of the low-pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD) silicon nitride thin film deposited on AlGaN/GaN heterostructures. The LPCVD-SiNx gate dielectric exhibits low leakage and high breakdown electric field. The dominant mechanism of the leakage current through LPCVD-SiNx gate dielectric is identified to be Poole–Frenkel emission at low electric field and Fowler–Nordheim tunneling at high electric field. Both electric-field-accelerated and temperature-accelerated time-dependent dielectric breakdown of the LPCVD-SiNx gate dielectric were also investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]