An SEB Hardened AlGaN/GaN HEMT With Barrier Interlayer

Abstract

A new single event burnout (SEB) hardened AlGaN/GaN structure with a thin barrier interlayer (IL) is presented in this work. The proposed hardened structure is compared with the simulation results of the conventional structure. The comparative analysis demonstrates that the IL lifts the conduction band energy in buffer layer and a new quantum well is formed. The quantum well limits the electrons induced by heavy ion below the second channel into the first channel. Thus, better SEB performance is achieved compared with the conventional structure. Moreover, the breakdown characteristic of the new structure is significantly improved, while the output characteristic is slightly reduced. Under the condition that the two structures are irradiated vertically by heavy ion having the linear energy transfer (LET) value of 0.6 pC/µm, the SEB threshold voltage of the conventional structure is 280 V, while the hardened structure can achieve 375 V. INDEX TERMS GaN, high-electron mobility transistor (HEMT), single event burnout (SEB), barrier interlayer, SEB threshold voltage.

Impact of heavy ion particle strike induced single event transients on conventional and π – Gate AlGaN/GaN HEMTs

“…The characteristics of different ions used in this work to investigate SET in the said devices and generated through SRIM [33] are summarized in table 2. The energy values in table 2 correspond to the LET where Bragg's stopping curve attains its peak and is in line with earlier reported experiments [4,10,35,36]. Apart from these, one miscellaneous case of a higher LET value of 1 pc µm −1 from the set of values used by Zerarka et al [7] has been used, which corresponds to a LET of 99.05 MeV cm 2 mg −1 using conversion formulations given by Weatherford [37].…”

“…It is evident from figure 13(b), the step modification in electric field profiles due to the π structure limits the flow of carriers and, therefore, the device triggering speed, which ultimately results in a suppressed charge enhancement in comparison to the conventional HEMT. Further, on comparing the magnitude of ∆E for both the devices, it was observed that the conventional HEMT (after heavy ion particle strike) has a degrading effect on the device breakdown considering the single event burnout (SEB) [10]. Figure 14 depicts the magnitude of change in the electric field (∆E) as a function of LET under ON-state and OFF-state conditions.…”

“…Zerarka et al have explored and explained SEEs in COTS with the aid of both experimental setups and TCAD simulations [7,8]. Accordingly, several studies such as the robustness concerning the architecture choice for radiation hardened device [9,10], the effect of cumulative ionizing radiations [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18] including radiation sensitive devices such as MOSHEMTs [19] and their modifications with MgCaO gate dielectric to improve radiation tolerance [20], displacement defects due to heavy ion particle strikes [21], the impact of the angled strike [22], and studies related to transistor failures at OFF-state [23] have been carried out in an attempt to emulate the harsh radiation environments subjected to the device so that its deleterious effects can be studied and understood, which will pave the way for new device architectures that would demonstrate radiation hardened operation.…”

Study of AlGaN/GaN Vertical Superjunction HEMT for Improvement of Breakdown Voltage and Specific On-Resistance

“…Compared with traditional Si materials, power-switching devices based on GaN power electronic materials have higher power density output and energy conversion efficiency. They can make the system smaller and lighter, effectively reducing the size and weight of power electronic devices [6]- [9], thus greatly reducing system fabrication and production costs. It has a huge market application prospect.…”