【Device Papers】Suppressing punch-through and boosting breakdown voltage in p-GaN gate HEMTs by employing a β-Ga₂O₃ back-barrier

       Researchers from South China Normal University have published a dissertation titled " Suppressing punch-through and boosting breakdown voltage in p-GaN gate HEMTs by employing a β-Ga₂O₃ back-barrier " in Physica Scripta.

Abstract

       This study proposes a p-GaN gate high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) incorporating a β-Ga₂O₃ back-barrier layer. The ultrawide bandgap and intrinsic nonpolar nature of β-Ga₂O₃ effectively mitigate the performance constraints caused by strong polarization in conventional III-nitride back-barriers. Systematic TCAD simulations with identical structural dimensions demonstrate that the proposed device substantially suppresses source-drain punch-through leakage and achieves a breakdown voltage of 1117 V, an improvement of 158 V over conventional AlGaN back-barrier HEMTs. Moreover, the breakdown voltage exhibits a clear non-monotonic dependence on channel thickness, reaching a maximum value of 1145 V at the optimal thickness of 220 nm. By effectively suppressing the inherent punch-through conduction observed in conventional designs, the β-Ga₂O₃ back-barrier significantly enhances the breakdown voltage of GaN HEMTs, offering a novel strategy for device performance enhancement.

DOI：

https://doi.org/10.1088/1402-4896/ae82a0