(Invited) III-Nitride Heterojunction Field-Effect Transistors and Heterojunction Bipolar Transistors for Next-Generation Power Electronics

This presentation will discuss recent progress in technology development for two key III-Nitride (III-N) transistor technologies: high-voltage AlGaN/GaN heterojunction field-effect transistors (HFETs) and GaN/InGaN RF heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs). While high-frequency AlGaN-GaN HEFTs have been extensively studied and developed, the high-voltage, highcurrent density III-N electronic devices have been less well investigated. For low-cost high-voltage III-N HFET development, we investigated power transistors built on sapphire substrates and have achieved a 10-A power handling capability with a blocking voltage of up to 1 kV. Using similar transistor processing techniques, we also achieved AlGaN/GaN HFETs with a drain breakdown voltage (BVds) > 1.6 kV, an on-state drain current handling capability of 2.5 A, and a specific onresistance of (Rds(ON)A) 800 V, it is clear that GaN HFETs show a drastic reduction of the on-state resistance by at least a factor of 100 when compared to silicon counterparts. The reported switching performance of the fabrication power switches are among the best results for any GaN-on-Si HFETs reported to date.