Influence of Field Plates and Surface Traps on Microwave Silicon Carbide MESFETs

Author

Nilsson, Per-Åke ; Allerstam, Fredrik ; Südow, Mattias ; Andersson, Kristoffer ; Hjelmgren, Hans ; Sveinbjornsson, E.O. ; Rorsman, Niklas

Author_Institution

Microwave Electron. Lab., Chalmers Univ. of Technol., Goteborg

Volume

55

Issue

8

fYear

2008

Firstpage

1875

Lastpage

1879

Abstract

The influence of field plates and surface traps on silicon carbide MESFETs for microwave operation was investigated. By increasing the length of gate-connected field plates from 50 to 800 nm, it was possible to increase the gate-drain breakdown voltage of the devices from 125 to 170 V. At the same time, the current slump effect of traps in the passivation oxide was reduced. By using a combination of field plates and a passivation oxide with low interface trap density, it was possible to reach an output power density of 8 W/mm at 3 GHz.

Keywords

Schottky gate field effect transistors; silicon compounds; wide band gap semiconductors; SiC; current slump effect; frequency 3 GHz; gate-connected field plates; gate-drain breakdown voltage; interface trap density; microwave silicon carbide MESFET; passivation oxide; power density; surface traps; voltage 125 V to 170 V; Electron traps; Etching; MESFETs; Microwave devices; Microwave technology; Neodymium; Passivation; Power generation; Silicon carbide; Substrates; Field plate; MESFETs; passivation; silicon carbide (SiC); surface traps;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Electron Devices, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9383

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TED.2008.926633

Filename

4578871