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In this paper, we present a comprehensive reviewand discussion of the state-of-the-art device technology and application development of GaN-on-Si power electronics. Several device technologies for realizing normally off operation that is highly desirable for power switching applications are presented. In addition, the examples of circuit applications that can greatly benefit from the superior performance of GaN power devices are demonstrated. Comparisonwith other competingpower device technology, such as Si superjunction-MOSFET and SiC MOSFET, is also presented and analyzed. Critical issues for commercialization of GaN-on-Si power devices are discussed with regard to cost, reliability, and ease of use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A cost-effective engineered bulk silicon (EBUS) substrate technology is presented, featuring p-n junction implemented on bulk Si substrates using mainstream ion implantation and thermal annealing processes. Standard p-GaN/AlGaN/GaN heterostructures are successfully grown on the EBUS substrate and used to fabricate 200-V enhancement-mode p-GaN gate HEMTs. By creating deep trenches in the EBUS substrate to isolate the local P+ silicon regions underneath the high-side (HS) and low-side (LS) power switches, adverse effects (e.g., back-gating and dynamic ON-resistance degradation) in the use of conventional bulk Si substrate are all eliminated. The mechanism of crosstalk suppression in the GaN-on-EBUS platform is revealed in comparison with conventional GaN-on-Si platform and verified by a series of designed tests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Systematic characterizations of a cascode device with a low-voltage enhance-mode (E-mode) p-GaN gate high-electron mobility transistor as the control device and a high-voltage (HV) depletion-mode (D-mode) silicon carbide junction field effect transistor (JFET) as the voltage blocking device are presented in this article. The demonstrated device with a breakdown voltage rating of 1200 V and a static on-resistance (RON) of 100 mΩ features small device capacitances with fast switching speed, avalanche breakdown capability, thermally stable threshold voltage (VTH), and no dynamic RON degradation. To identify its safe operation in the off-state with a high drain bias, the off-state middle point voltage (VM) between the E-mode device drain and D-mode device source is investigated. A relatively low off-state VM is achieved under both static and dynamic modes. In addition to the device-level characterization, a custom-designed double-pulse test circuit is built to evaluate the transient switching performance of the cascode device. Optimal gate drive conditions are proposed to 1) overcome the drain bias induced positive dynamic VTH shift; and 2) suppress the increased dynamic off-state leakage current (IOFF) induced by on-state hole injection. Under 800 V/16 A testing conditions, high switching speed with the drain voltage peak slew rates of 72 V/ns during turn-on and 121 V/ns during turn-off is achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bulk traps in the high-resistivity buffer stack underneath the 2-dimensional electron gas (2DEG), which can interact with the high vertical electric field at OFF state, impose a critical challenge to the dynamic ON-resistance (RON) of AlGaN/GaN-on-Si power devices. In this paper, the impact of substrate bias polarity on carrier injection/transport and buffer-induced current collapse has been investigated by using ramped and transient back-gating characterizations as well as TCAD simulations. High voltage applied to the conductive Si substrate can modulate 2DEG conductivity through the back-gate effect, whereby the dynamics of both acceptor and donor buffer traps are identified. Distinct buffer trapping and asymmetric vertical leakage under opposite top-to-substratebias polarities have been observed, which are attributed to the fundamentally different carrier injection/transport mechanisms. It is suggested that the energy barrier at the nucleation-layer/Si interface can limit the electron injection from Si substrate into the buffer stack and consequently influence the bufferrelated current collapse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The systematic characterization of a 650-V/13-A enhancement-mode GaN power transistor with p-GaN gate is presented. Critical device parameters such as ON-resistance $R_{{\rm{ON}}}$ and threshold voltage $V_{{\rm{TH}}}$ are evaluated under both static and dynamic (i.e., switching) operating conditions. The dynamic RON is found to exhibit different dependence on the gate drive voltage $V_{{\rm{GS}}}$ from the static $R_{{\rm{ON}}}$. While reasonably suppressed at higher $V_{{\rm{GS}}}$ of 5 and 6 V, the degradation in dynamic RON is significantly larger at lower $V_{{\rm{GS}}}$ of 3–4 V, which is attributed to the positive shift in $V_{{\rm{TH}}}$ under switching operations. In addition to characterization of discrete devices, a custom-designed double-pulse test circuit with 400-V, 10-A test capability is built to evaluate the transient switching performance of the p-GaN gate power transistors. Optimal gate drive conditions are proposed to: 1) provide sufficient gate over-drive to minimize the impact of the $V_{{\rm{TH}}}$ shift on the dynamic $R_{{\rm{ON}}}$; and 2) leave enough headroom to save the device from excessive gate stresses. Moreover, gate drive circuit design and board layout considerations are also discussed by taking into account the fast switching characteristics of GaN devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The temperature dependence of current collapse (CC) in AlGaN/GaN high-electron mobility transistors on silicon substrate is studied in this paper. Devices without and with Si3N4 passivation are used to investigate the behavior of surface- and buffer-induced CC, respectively. It is found that the degree of surface-induced CC in unpassivated devices has a weak temperature dependence, which is induced by the cancelling out between enhanced carrier injection based on surface hopping and enhanced emission when the temperature is increased. On the other hand, the degree of buffer-induced CC in the Si3N4 passivated devices is reduced at higher temperature since the energy of hot electrons is reduced due to the phonon scattering and the trapping of hot electrons in the buffer is mitigated. Temperature-dependent transient measurement is also carried out to investigate the recovery process for these two type of CC. Two types of trap levels are identified in the unpassivated and Si3N4 passivated devices, respectively. The trap level $E1$ with an activation energy of 0.08 eV is supposed to be related to the surface trapping, while $E2$ with an activation energy of 0.22 eV is located in the buffer layer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we report the device performance of a high-voltage normally off Al2O3/GaN MOSFET on the Si substrate. Normally off operation is obtained by multiple cycles of O2 plasma oxidation and wet oxide-removal gate recess process. The recessed normally off GaN MOSFET with 3 \mum gate-drain distance exhibits a maximum drain current of 585 mA/mm at 9 V gate bias. The threshold voltage of the MOSFET is 2.8 V with a standard derivation of 0.2 V on the sample with an area of 2 \,\times\, 2 {\rm cm}^{2} . The gate leakage current is below 10^{-6}~{\rm mA}/{\rm mm} during the whole gate swing up to 9 V and the I{\scriptstyleON}/I{\scriptstyle OFF} ratio is larger than 10^{9} , indicating the good quality of Al2O3 gate insulator. The MOSFET with 10 \mum gate-drain distance shows a three terminal OFF-state breakdown voltage (BV) of 967 V at zero gate-source bias with a drain leakage current criterion of 1 \muA/mm . The specific ON-resistance $(R_{{{\scriptstyle {\rm ON}}},{\rm SP}}) of the device is 1.6 m\Omega\,\cdot\,cm^2 and the power figure of merit (BV^2/R{{\scriptstyle ON},SP}) is 584 MW/cm^2 . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]