Vertical GaN Fin Transistors for Power and RF Applications

Abstract

While lateral HEMTs have traditionally dominated the GaN device market, they are still limited by issues such as current collapse and thermal management. These stem from device structures where current conduction takes place near the surface and is therefore highly dependent on surface conditions. To counteract these limitations, it is necessary to shift from lateral devices to those utilizing vertical current flow. These allow for bulk heat dissipation, area independent breakdown, and reduced dependence on surface states. Here we present our work on creating fin based vertical GaN transistors for 200 V Ka band operation and medium-voltage (600-2000 V) power applications. By employing a variable-fin-width based structure, we are able to use device level threshold voltage engineering to study its effects on improving radio frequency (RF) device linearity. We also demonstrate vertical power transistors with extremely high current density by using a bulk GaN substrate, increasing the drift region to accommodate the larger voltages, and increasing the gate length.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 25, 2019
Accession Number
AD1075625

Entities

People

  • Ayrton Munoz
  • Joshua Perozek
  • Tomás Palacios

Organizations

  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Advanced Electronics

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Chemical Vapor Deposition
  • Chemistry
  • Compound Semiconductors
  • Electron Beam Lithography
  • Electron Microscopes
  • Electron Mobility
  • Electronics Laboratories
  • Electrons
  • Engineering
  • Fabrication
  • Metal-Semiconductor Junctions
  • Metals
  • Radio Frequency
  • Radio Frequency Devices
  • Silicon Carbide
  • Transistor Amplifiers
  • Transistors

Fields of Study

  • Materials science

Readers

  • Electrical Engineering
  • Semiconductor Device Technology
  • Systems Analysis and Design