Normally-off high-voltage p-GaN gate GaN HFET with carbon-doped buffer

Abstract

Normally-off GaN transistors for power applications in p-type GaN gate technology with a modified carbon-doped GaN buffer are presented. A combination of an AlGaN back-barrier with the carbon-doped buffer prevents early off-state punch-through. Simultaneously, the on-state resistance could be kept low and the threshold voltage with 1.1 V high enough for secure normally-off operation. 1000 V breakdown strength has been obtained for devices with 6 μm gate-drain spacing. The resulting breakdown scaling slope is 170 V/μm gate-drain distance. The on-state resistance is 7.4 Ωmm. The resulting VBr-to-RONA ratio (1000 V, 0.62 mΩcm2) is beyond so far reported ratios for normally-off GaN transistors. Modifications of the p-type GaN layer have shown to additionally increase the threshold voltage by 0.4 V without paying a price in the on-state resistance of the device.