Simulation Study of a High Gate-to-Source ESD Robustness Power p-GaN HEMT With Self-Triggered Discharging Channel

This article proposes a novel power p-GaN high-electron-mobility transistor (HEMT) with self-triggered discharging channel to improve gate-to-source electrostatic discharge (ESD) robustness. The self-triggered discharging channel consists of a small-size self-triggered p-GaN HEMT, a current-limiting resistor ${R}_{{1}}$ , and a proportional amplification resistor ${R}_{{2}}$ . At ESD events, the proposed power p-GaN HEMT will be self-triggered by the high transient ESD voltage, and hence the accumulated electrostatic charges at its gate will be released through the self-triggered discharging channel. This avoids the gate-to-source damage of the proposed device, thereby enhancing the gate-to-source ESD robustness. Compared with the conventional power p-GaN HEMT, simulation results show that the transmission line pulsing (TLP) current handling capability (over 6.5 kV human body model failure voltage) of the proposed device is improved by 1900% without compromising other device characteristics. In addition, the fabrication process of the proposed device is fully compatible with the traditional power p-GaN HEMT platform, and the increase of total active area is less than 0.5%. The proposed device with self-triggered discharging channel can be a good reference for the design of power p-GaN HEMT with high ESD robustness.