Which are the Future GaN Power Devices for Automotive Applications, Lateral Structures or Vertical Structures?

The GaN is a promising material for future electric power devices because of its excellent material potential compared with Si or SiC. Recently, high quality GaN on Si substrates have been developed and AlGaN/GaN lateral power HEMTs fabricated on the GaN on Si substrates which had more than 1kV breakdown voltage have been reported. In this paper, we compare the lateral structures and the vertical structures of the GaN power devices and discuss which the next power devices will be from viewpoints of automotive applications.