Review

Stability of p-GaN gate AlGaN/GaN HEMTs under static and dynamic drain stress

  • Linfei Gao ,
  • Xiaohua Li ,
  • Wei He ,
  • Xinbo Xiong ,
  • Huaibao Yan ,
  • Hsien-Chin Chiu ,
  • Zhanwu Yang ,
  • Lixuan Chen ,
  • Qiubao Lin ,
  • Kaifeng Wang ,
  • Hezhou Liu ,
  • Xinke Liu
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  • 1. College of Materials Science and Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Radio Frequency Heterogeneous Integration, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, Guangdong, 518060, China;
    2. College of Electronics and Information Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Radio Frequency Heterogeneous Integration, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, Guangdong, 518060, China;
    3. Institute of Power Devices and Al Energy Monitoring Technology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, Guangdong, 518060, China;
    4. Jiangxi Yuhongjin Material Technology Co., Ltd., Fuzhou, Jiangxi, 344000, China;
    5. Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan, 333, China;
    6. Red and Blue Microelectronic Co., Ltd., Shenzhen, Guangdong, 518063, China;
    7. Unilumin Group Co., Ltd., Shenzhen, Guangdong, 518103, China;
    8. School of Science, Jimei University, Xiamen, Fujian, 361021, China

Received date: 2024-12-03

  Revised date: 2025-01-11

  Accepted date: 2025-01-18

  Online published: 2025-06-24

Supported by

This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant No.2024YFE0205100). This study was financially supported by the Guangdong Major Project of Basic and Applied Basic Research (Grant No.2023B0303000012), Guangdong Science Foundation for Distinguished Young Scholars (Grant No.2022B1515020073), Shenzhen Science and Technology Program (Grant No.JCYJ20220818102809020), Shenzhen Science and Technology Program (Grant No.KCXST20221021111200001), and the Scientific Instrument Developing Project of Shenzhen University (Grant No.2024YQ003).

Abstract

In this article, we report the investigation into the stability of p-GaN gate high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) with an internal integrated gate circuit that led to the design of a capacitance-based circuit to address threshold voltage shifts (ΔVTH). Pulse I-V measurement revealed a notable positive gate VTH shift of 0.7 V as the drain voltage increased from 0 to 650 V, highlighting the impact of drain bias on VTH instability. Through the investigation of drain bias-induced VTH instability and the behavior of carriers being transported within the gate region, it was found that the maximum ΔVTH is 0.4 V when a 200-V drain bias is applied; after stress removal, ΔVTH diminishes gradually due to the discharge of capacitance, and holes enter the p-GaN layer to mitigate the depletion of holes. The integration of passive components and p-GaN gate HEMT circuits is suggested to address VTH instability in enhancement-mode HEMT devices. The reliability of power devices is essential for their acceptance in emerging applications.

Cite this article

Linfei Gao , Xiaohua Li , Wei He , Xinbo Xiong , Huaibao Yan , Hsien-Chin Chiu , Zhanwu Yang , Lixuan Chen , Qiubao Lin , Kaifeng Wang , Hezhou Liu , Xinke Liu . Stability of p-GaN gate AlGaN/GaN HEMTs under static and dynamic drain stress[J]. Moore and More, 2025 , 1(3) : 290 -299 . DOI: 10.1007/s44275-025-00029-0

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