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Over the last decade, gallium nitride (GaN) has emerged as an excellent material for the fabrication of power devices. Among the semiconductors for which power devices are already available in the market, GaN has the widest energy gap, the largest critical field, and the highest saturation velocity, thus representing an excellent material for the fabrication of high-speed/high-voltage components. The presence of spontaneous and piezoelectric polarization allows us to create a two-dimensional electron gas, with high mobility and large channel density, in the absence of any doping, thanks to the use of AlGaN/GaN heterostructures. This contributes to minimize resistive losses; at the same time, for GaN transistors, switching losses are very low, thanks to the small parasitic capacitances and switching charges. Device scaling and monolithic integration enable a high-frequency operation, with consequent advantages in terms of miniaturization. For high power/high-voltage operation, vertical device architectures are being proposed and investigated, and three-dimensional structures—fin-shaped, trench-structured, nanowire-based—are demonstrating great potential. Contrary to Si, GaN is a relatively young material: trapping and degradation processes must be understood and described in detail, with the aim of optimizing device stability and reliability. This Tutorial describes the physics, technology, and reliability of GaN-based power devices: in the first part of the article, starting from a discussion of the main properties of the material, the characteristics of lateral and vertical GaN transistors are discussed in detail to provide guidance in this complex and interesting field. The second part of the paper focuses on trapping and reliability aspects: the physical origin of traps in GaN and the main degradation mechanisms are discussed in detail. The wide set of referenced papers and the insight into the most relevant aspects gives the reader a comprehensive overview on the present and next-generation GaN electronics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report the demonstration of p-NiO layers as junction termination extensions (JTEs) for realizing high-performance GaN power devices. The p-NiO was deposited by RF sputtering, a flexible process which enables to achieve high hole densities. In this work, we investigated the material and transport properties of p-NiO on GaN, and demonstrated its application as JTEs for GaN-on-Si Schottky barrier diodes (SBDs). p-NiO JTEs resulted in a similar ON-state behavior compared to a control SBD without any termination, while providing 1.9×-higher breakdown voltage of 443 V, the highest reported for SBDs on GaN-on-Si substrates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We demonstrate quasi-vertical reverse blocking (RB) MOSFETs on 6.7 μm thick GaN grown on a 6 inch Si substrate by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. The RB capability was achieved by replacing the ohmic drain with a quasi-vertical Schottky drain, resulting in a RB voltage of ∼300 V while preserving the ON-resistance (Ron,sp). Schottky contacts on etched i-GaN surface were realized through an optimized fabrication process based on tetramethylammonium hydroxide treatments. The fabricated RB-MOSFET had a low Ron,sp of 4.75 mΩ cm2, current density of ∼0.9 kA cm−2 and a forward blocking voltage of 570 V. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]