Simulation of the electrical characteristics of high-voltage mesa and planar GaN Schottky and p-i-n rectifiers

Author

Shelton, Bryan S. ; Zhu, Ting Gang ; Lambert, Damien J H ; Dupuis, Russell D.

Author_Institution

Microelectron. Res. Center, Texas Univ., Austin, TX, USA

Volume

48

Issue

8

fYear

2001

fDate

8/1/2001 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1498

Lastpage

1502

Abstract

The use of GaN for the fabrication of Schottky and p-i-n rectifiers presents an opportunity to take advantage of the high-voltage and high-power handling characteristics of the III-nitride materials. We report the results of two-dimensional (2-D) device simulations to provide estimates of the performance limitations and a comparison for vertical- and horizontal-geometry GaN mesa and planar Schottky-barrier rectifiers and p-i-n devices. The simulated performance of devices with practical drift region thicknesses indicate that it is possible to realize Schottky-barrier and p-i-n rectifiers with turn-on voltages of V _0N<5 V, and blocking voltages of up to V_BR=-2,320 V and -675 V, and figure of merit values of V_BR²/R_0N>1000 and 3000 MW/cm², respectively

Keywords

III-V semiconductors; Schottky diodes; gallium compounds; p-i-n diodes; power semiconductor diodes; semiconductor device breakdown; semiconductor device models; solid-state rectifiers; -2320 V; -675 V; 1.5 to 2.3 kV; 2-D device simulations; 5 V; GaN; GaN Schottky rectifiers; GaN p-i-n rectifiers; blocking voltage; breakdown voltage; drift region thickness; electrical characteristics; figure of merit; high-voltage mesa rectifiers; high-voltage planar rectifiers; horizontal geometry; performance limitations; turn-on voltage; vertical geometry; Electric variables; Gallium nitride; P-i-n diodes; PIN photodiodes; Rectifiers; Schottky diodes; Silicon carbide; Thyristors; Two dimensional displays; Voltage;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Electron Devices, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9383

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/16.936497

Filename

936497