Large Area GaN HEMT Power Devices for Power Electronic Applications: Switching

and Temperature Characteristics

Naiqian Zhang', Vivek Mehrotra', Sriram Chandrasekaran', Brendan Moran', Likun Shen', Umesh
Mishral, Edward Etzkorn' and David Clarke'
'Elecbical& Computer Engineering Dept.
University of Califomia Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, CA 93 106
NZhang@rfmd com
lkshen@engineering.ucsb.edu
mishraaece.ucsb.edu

'Rockwell Scientific Company

1049 Camino Dos Rios
Thousand Oaks, CA 91360
vmehrotra@nusc.com
sriram@rwsc. com

Abstract - Large area AIGaNIGaN High Electron Mobility

Transistors (HEMT) for power electronic applications have
been fabricated. These power devices offer lower on-resistance
and higher switching speed than Sic devices due to higher
electron mobility and high channel charge density achieved by a
heterojunction. The GaN epi-layers were grown on semiinsulating 4H-Sic substrate by Metal Organic Chemical Vapor
Deposition (MOCVD) technique. The device structure was
grown on Sic substrates due to its high thermal conductivity.
The devices have been optimised with respect to electron
mobility, sheet concentration, voltage breakdown, on-resistance
and dispersion. Voltage breakdown of 13OOV was achieved on
small devices while breakdown in the range 600-900V was
achieved on packaged devices depending on the number of
devices that have been paralleled. The power device figure of
merit V j R / R , = 9.94~10' [V2.P'cni2], where VBR is the
breakdown voltage and %. is the on-resistance, is the highest
among any reported switching devices. Switching losses of large
area 600V 12.5A power devices were measured using resistive
and inductive loading. Switching times of< 30 ns were achieved
with an on-resistance of 0.4 C l (specific on-resistance = 1.7
&.em2).
The static and dynamic characteristics of GaN
HEMT devices were also measured as a function of temperature
up to 200OC. Finally, the temperature distributions in the active
device area were measured using Raman spectroscopy
(pyrospectroseopy). This technique can be used to measure
temperatures with a spatial resolution of 1-2 pm. Device
temperatures from both the active areas and Sic substrates
have been measured.

I. INTRODUCTION
High performance power electronic circuits are expected
to make a major impact on more-electric ships, submarines,
aircrafts, hybrid vehicles, nuclear-powered satellites, directed
energy weapons and spacecraft [1,2]. The primary benefits
are in terms of reduced weight and size, fuel savings, simple
thermal management and lower lifecycle costs. Si-based
power devices cannot meet the temperature, voltage,
switching speed, size and efficiency requirements to realize
these benefits. Wide bandgap semiconductors, particularly
S i c and GaN, are well suited to meet these requirements.
The wide bandgap results in very low intrinsic camer
concentration that provides negligible junction leakage
current up to 500C. This allows high temperature operation

0-7803-7754-0/03/$17.00 02003 IEEE

3Materials Department
University of California Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, CA 93 106
moranbaengineering. ucsb.edu
edmaster@engineering. ucsb.edu
clarke@engineering.ucsb.edu

without excessive leakage or thermal runaway and reduces

cooling requirements. The high breakdown strength of S i c
and GaN results in thinner drift layers for a given blocking
voltage, as compared to silicon, thus reducing the specific onresistance and storage of minority carriers. Lastly, the high
inherent thermal conductivity of these materials (Sic) or the
substrates used for their growth (GaN on Sic) allows
efficient heat removal.
Rapid progress has been made towards the availability of
high-quality S i c substrates. This has resulted in the
development and commercialisation of SIC power devices.
On the other hand, tremendous progress has also been
achieved in GaN microwave power devices due to improved
material quality and process techniques. These advances can
now be exploited to develop GaN power switching devices
for power electronics.
AIGaN/GaN based High Electron Mobility Transistors
(HEMTs) offer lower on-resistance and higher switching
speed due to higher electron' mobility and high channel
charge density achieved by a heterojunction. Electron
mobility values of 1500-2000 cm2N.s have been achieved
compared to -400 cm2N.s in S i c [3]. Additionally, a twodimensional charge density of - 2 ~ 1 0 ' cni2
~ has also been
achieved in a HEMT structure. Other advantages of GaN
HEMT devices include lower parasitic capacitance and a
simple device fabrication (4 mask steps) [3]. In this paper,
we report on the switching and temperature characteristics of
large area 600V / 2.5A GaN HEMT power devices. The
GaN epi-layers were grown on semi-insulating S i c substrate
by Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition (MOCVD)
technique. The device structure was grown on S i c substrates
due to its high thermal conductivity and the device layout was
optimized to achieve high blocking voltages. These high
performance devices lay the foundation for a high
temperature and high voltage front-end converter for
distributed power architecture in both commercial and
military applications.
11. DEVICE DESIGN
Fig. 1 shows the cross-section of the GaN HEMT device.
Room temperature hall measurements showed an electron

233

sheet concentration n, = 8 . 3 ~ 1 0 ~ and mobility = 1500

cm2N.s with no intentional doping in the whole material
system. Insulated-gate HEMT was utilized to achieve
breakdown voltages in excess of 600V [4] (Fig. 1). A Si02
layer under the gate was utilized to reduce gate leakage under
high drain hias, thus alleviating the leakage assisted impact
ionization in the AlGaN layer and increasing the breakdown
voltage. A breakdown voltage of 1300V with a specific onresistance of 1.7 n O c m 2 (active area 9 . 2 5 ~ 1 0 .cm2)
~ at a
gate bias of 2V was achieved in GaN HEMT with Lgd = 20
pm and W, = 500 pm. The threshold voltage was measured to
be -9 V. The breakdown voltage is by far the highest value
achieved on all devices based on GaN material, and the onresistance is lower than Sic switching devices reported in the
literature. The power device figure of merit V i R / R , =

leakage. Fig. 4 shows the I-V characteristics of the device

with a double gate dielectric scheme. It is clearly evident that
the dispersion is negligible.

9.94~10[V2.0-1cm-2],where Vsn is the breakdown voltage

and &, is the on-resistance, is the highest among any
reported switching devices.
0 . 9 ~L x = . o W

I -*

Fig. 2. I-V curves under DC (solid lines). and .nulsed (dotted lines)
conditions showing dispersion for an unoptimised device.

Ld=1.5-24pn
S

SO

I pn 760 Ton GaN

Semi-hrulsting SIC

85 nm AIN

Semi-insulating Sic

Fig. 3. Double-gate dielectric scheme to achieve low dispersion and gate

leakage.

Fig. I . Cross-section of the GaN HEMT power device

Dispersion of GaN power HEMTs was also measured

since it affects the switching speed.
Dispersion
characteristics were measured using gate lag measurements.
Fig. 2 shows a comparison of I-V curves obtained under DC
and Sops pulse conditions. It can be seen that the pulsed
current level is much lower than the DC level. The
discrepancy between DC and pulse measurement is referred
to as dispersion in microwave power electronics, which is
caused by slow response of traps in the material [3]. These
pulse measurements provide an indirect method to rapidly
probe the device switching speed. If the device is turned-on
at a speed faster than the pulse, the current carrying capability
is limited and is much lower than the DC current level. For
microwave applications, Si3N4surface passivation layer has
been used to solve the dispersion problem [3]. We have
utilized a double gate dielectric scheme to achieve the
advantages of both SiOz and Si3N4 as shown in Fig. 3. A thin
layer of Si3N4was first deposited on the device followed by a
SiOl layer deposited only under the gate. The device was
finished with a thick, planar SiJN4 passivation. The Si3Nd
layer substantially reduces dispersion to enable high
switching speed, while the Si02 layer reduces the gate

Fig. 4. I-V curves under DC (solid lines) and pulsed (dotted lines)
conditions showina
.nealiaible
.. disoersion for the double-eate
- dielectric
StNCNE.

The power device layout design was also optimized to

achieve high breakdown voltage. In microwave devices,
electric field crowding at the end of gate-fingers severely
limits the device voltage blocking capability. A circular
device deoign was used to distribute the electric field evenly
Voltage blocking
along the gate finger (Fig. 5).
measurements revealed a maximum breakdown voltage of
1050V for this design with an average voltage blocking

234

capability of 900V (Fig. 6). Large area devices were

fabricated using wire bonding to interconnect discrete smaller
power devices. Sixty-four small devices were bonded
together with a total gate length of 38.4 mm and with a
current capability >2.5A (Fig. 5). An on-resistance of 0.4Q
and a breakdown voltage of 600V were obtained for a
packaged device (Fig. 7). I-V curves of a large area device
are shown in Fig. 8.

111. SWITCHING MEASUREMENTS AND

TEMPERATURE EFFECTS
Switching characteristics of GaN HEMT devices were
measured using the inductive (Fig. 9) and resistive loads.
Figs. 10 and 11 show the turn-on and turn-off characteristics
of a GaN HEMT device at a blocking voltage of >11OV and
drain current of -1.4A. The gate-to-source voltage was
switched fiom OV to -2OV. Turn-on and turn-off times less
than 3011s were measured under these conditions. From the
switching data, a turn-on loss of 0.612 pJ and a turn-off loss
of 0.834 pJ was calculated that corresponds to a total
switching loss of 1.45W at 1 MHz switching 6equency. The
conduction losses are about 0.68W corresponding to an onresistance of 0.4 Q. These devices have been measured up to
250V blocking voltage at a Switching current of -2.5A.

Fig. 5 . Circulardevice design for uniform electric field disuibution (left)

and paralleled GaN HEMTs with a total gate length of38.4mm with
current capability >2.5A (right)

UI1"F.U

0 . 1 II

COotrDl

DUT
S

Fig. 9. Schematic circuit used to measure the dynamic switching

characteristics ofGaN HEMT power devices (indicated as Device Under
Test- DLIT). The resistive loading cixuit is similar with a variable
resistor replacing the diode-inductor.

Fig. 6. I-V curves illustrating maximum voltage blocEing capability up

to 105OV and average voltage blocking of 900V.
nw

-TO

140

2.4

120

2.0
1.6

E
m

=P
B

Fig. 7. Packaged 600V l2.5A GaN HEMT device on Cu / Alios substrate

(left) with an on-resistance ofO.40. An exploded view ofthe device is
shown on the right

80

s
1.2

60

0.8

5
0

0.4

40
20

0.0

0.4
100 120

40

-40

-20

20

40

60

80

Time (ns)
Fig. IO. T u " characteristics afGaN HEMT device under resistive
load showing the drain-to-source voltage (Vds) and drain current (Id).

~.

6 S Io I2 i 4 I6 i n
Drain Voltage (V)
Fig. 8. I-V characteristics of a 600V / 2.SA GaN HEMT device.
o

The static and dynamic characteristics of GaN power

devices were also measured as a function of temperature up
to 200C. Fig. 12 shows the device I-V curves for different
gate voltages at 23OC and 200C. A larger gate voltage is
required for complete turn-off at 200"C, presumably due to
thermal activation of traps in GaN buffer. Voltage blocking
charactenstics of a single device are shown in Fig. 13 at 23C

235

Dynamic Characteristics at 23% and 200DC

and 200C. The dynamic characteristics of a single power

device in an array of 64 devices were measured as a function
of temperature using inductive loading measurements. Fig.
14 shows the turn-on and turn-off characteristics of a single
device under inductive load.
Effects of the resistive
contribution of the probes have been corrected in this
measurement. The switching losses at 2 0 0 T were measured
to be within 10% of the losses at 23C. These measurements
demonstrate the device switching capability up to 200C. A
scaled up packaged GaN HEMT device is therefore capable
of operation up to 200C with low switching and conduction
losses. However, further improvements in material growth
are necessary to achieve a low trap density at the surface and
in GaN buffer.

-Id 21%
...
-Id mvc

0.8

3
5

0.4
0.0
0.4

40

-20

20

40

60

80

100

IV. DEVICE RELIABILITY

2.0

1.2

(PI

Fig. 14. Dynamic charactenstics of a single GaN HEMT power device

room an m y of 64 devices under inductive load at 23% and 200C
demonstratingifs high temperahme capability.

2.4

1.6

Time

120

Device degradation was observed upon exposure to

ambient conditions within 4-6 weeks. The device showed
longer turn-on and turn-off times and the forward drop
increased rapidly. Fig. 15 shows this degradation, which is
probably due to poor device passivation. In addition to
improvements in materials growth to reduce trap density,
improved passivation materials are a critical need for
improving device reliability.

Time (nr)

Fig. 1 1 . Turn-off characteristics of GaN HEMT device under resistive

load showing the drain-to-source voltage (Vds) and drain current (Id).

1.6

0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0

12

do (v)
Fig. 12. Static I-V curves o f a single GaN HEMT device at 23C and

E
.......

200oc.

0.8

.:.

>

I......

0.4 0

.
.

.,oo

. .
. ~.
~

.
0.0

. . . . . . .

I 4.54

.
.

3
E

400

100

300

400

em

Time (SJ

Fig. 15. Tum-on characteristics of GaN HEMT device before (top) and
after degradation @onom) upon exposure to ambient for 4-6 weeks

l.Oe-5
5.0.-7

V. TEMPERATURE MEASUREMENTS

0.0
0

40

80

100

Vds 0
Fig. 13. Leakage current of large a m GaN HEMT power device at 23C
and 2 0 0 T at gate-to-source voltage of -2OV.

Temperature distribution within a single power device

from the large area GaN device packaged on a ceramic

236

substrate (Fig. 16) was measured using Raman spectroscopy,

termed pyrospectroscopy [SI. This technique allows
temperature measurements from a spot size of 1-2 pm and is
being used to ascertain the spatial distribution of temperature
within the device for reliability prediction. Raman peak
shifts from both the active device areas and S i c substrate
were measured (Tdeviccand Tsubsmc). Temperatures were
derived from local peak shifts using a separate calibration
performed on GaN and SIC materials. Fig. 17 shows the
observed Raman peak shifts as a function of dissipated power
while Fig. 18 shows the derived temperatures within the
drain-to-gate region of a single power device. A temperature
of about 100C in the active area was measured at a
dissipated power of about 12W in a packaged device.

Fig. 16. Schematic of a large area GaN HEMT device used for high
resolution temperaare measurements.

GaN E2 Raman Peak Shins

G lZO.O
e 100.0

fP

80.0
60.0

f 40.0

20.0

0.0

5.0

10.0

15.0

Dissipated Power (w)

Fig. 18. Average device temperature in the drain-to-gate region ofa

single device derived from the GaN Raman peak shift (left). The location
of the collected specmm from the device is also shown (right).

VI. CONCLUSIONS
600V / 2 S A GaN HEMT devices for power electronic
applications have been demonstrated. AIGaN/GaN devices
with a sheet charge of 8 . 3 ~ 1 0 ~
mobility of 1500
cm2N.s, and a specific on-resistance of 1.7 d a n 2have
been fabricated. Switching times less than 30 ns were
achieved with an on-resistance of 0.4 0. The dynamic
characteristics were measured up to 2SOV. At blocking
voltages of IlOV, a turn-on loss of 0.612 pJ and a turn-off
loss of 0.834 pJ was measured that corresponds to a total
switching loss of 1.4SW at 1 MHz switching frequency. The
static and dynamic characteristics of GaN HEMT devices
were also measured as a function of temperature up to 20OoC
demonstrating their applicability for high temperature power
electronics.
High-resolution (1-2 pm) temperature
measurements were performed using Raman spectroscopy.
Finally, device reliability upon prolonged exposure to
ambient was investigated. Improvements in materials growth
to reduce trap density and improved passivation materials are
critical needs for improving device reliability.

567.2

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

0 566.8
0.0

This work was partially supported by the US Navy

Office of Naval Research (ONR) under contract # N00014993-0006, N00014-03-1-0386 and COMPACT MURI.

.?

5.0

10.0

15.0

Dissipated Power (W)

777.0

22 776.5

4HSiC Raman Peak Shifts

776.0

775.5

775.0

0.0

5.0

10.0

15.0

Dissipated Power (W)

Fig. 17. GaN E2 (top) and 4H-SiC (bottom) Raman peak shifts as a
function ofdissipated power from the active area of the device and
device substrate, respectively. The spatial variation of temperahue can
be derived from these peak shifts with a resolution of 1-2 pm.

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237