High-Performance 500 V Quasi- and Fully-Vertical GaN-on-Si pn Diodes

This letter demonstrates quasi- and fully vertical GaN-on-Si pn diodes with record performance. The optimized device structure employs a highly conductive (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\text{N}_{\mathrm { {D}}}> 10^{\mathrm { {20}}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> cm<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$^{\mathrm { {-3}}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>) current collecting layer and a lightly carbon-doped drift layer. With this optimization, a differential specific <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$on$ </tex-math></inline-formula> -resistance (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${R} _{ {\mathrm{ ON}}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>) of 0.8–1 <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\text{m}\Omega \cdot $ </tex-math></inline-formula>cm<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$^{\mathrm { {2}}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>, a breakdown voltage (BV) over 500 V, and a high forward current (~kA/cm<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$^{\mathrm { {2}}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>) were demonstrated. Excellent <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${R} _{ \mathrm{ ON}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> and BV performance up to 300 °C were also obtained. A small reverse recovery time of 50 ns was demonstrated under switching conditions. With Baliga’s figure of merit over 0.32 GW/cm<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$^{\mathrm { {2}}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>, these devices show the great potential of low-cost GaN-on-Si vertical devices for future power applications.

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