Masahiro Ishida

GaN on Si Technologies for Power Switching Devices

This paper reviews the recent activities for normally-off GaN-based gate injection transistors (GITs) on Si substrates and their application to inverters. Epitaxial growth of the AlGaN/GaN heterostructures with good crystallinity over 200-mm Si substrates with eliminated bowing enables low-cost fabrication of GaN devices with high breakdown voltages. A novel normally-off GaN transistor called as GIT is proposed in which hole injection from the p-type AlGaN gate increases the drain current with low on-state resistance by conductivity modulation. The low on-state resistance in GaN-based devices greatly helps to increase the efficiency of power switching systems. A GaN-based three-phase inverter successfully drives a motor with high efficiency of 99.3% at a high output power of 1500 W. The presented GaN-based devices are expected to greatly help saving energy in the future as an indispensable power switching system.

99.3% Efficiency of three-phase inverter for motor drive using GaN-based Gate Injection Transistors

In this paper, we present a successful operation of Gallium Nitride(GaN)-based three-phase inverter with high efficiency of 99.3% for driving motor at 900W under the carrier frequency of 6kHz. This efficiency well exceeds the value by IGBT (Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor). This demonstrates that GaN has a great potential for power switching application competing with SiC. Fully reduced on-state resistance in a new normally-off GaN transistor called Gate Injection Transistor (GIT) greatly helps to increase the efficiency. In addition, use of the bidirectional operation of the lateral and compact GITs with synchronous gate driving, the inverter is operated free from fly-wheel diodes which have been connected in parallel with IGBTs in a conventional inverter system.

GaN power switching devices

State-of-the-art device technologies of GaN power switching transistors are reviewed. The presented technologies solve the technical issues on GaN transistors for practical use replacing currently used Si-based power devices. Thick epitaxial growth over 6-inch Si substrates enables low cost fabrication of GaN devices with high breakdown voltages. A new operating principle for the normally-off GaN transistor called Gate Injection Transistor (GIT) is proposed in which hole injection from the p-type AlGaN gate increases the drain current by conductivity modulation. Six GITs are integrated onto a single chip on silicon as the world first GaN-based monolithic inverter IC. The inverter IC successfully drives a motor with low operating loss which is 42% reduced from that of the conventional IGBT (Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor)-based one. These technologies are indispensable for wide-spread use of GaN power switching transistors in the future.

GaN transistors on Si for switching and high-frequency applications

In this paper, recent advances of GaN transistors on Si for switching and high-frequency applications are reviewed. Novel epitaxial structures including superlattice interlayers grown by metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) relieve the strain and eliminate the cracks in the GaN over large-diameter Si substrates up to 8 in. As a new device structure for high-power switching application, Gate Injection Transistors (GITs) with a p-AlGaN gate over an AlGaN/GaN heterostructure successfully achieve normally-off operations maintaining high drain currents and low on-state resistances. Note that the GITs on Si are free from current collapse up to 600 V, by which the drain current would be markedly reduced after the application of high drain voltages. Highly efficient operations of an inverter and DC–DC converters are presented as promising applications of GITs for power switching. The high efficiencies in an inverter, a resonant LLC converter, and a point-of-load (POL) converter demonstrate the superior potential of the GaN transistors on Si. As for high-frequency transistors, AlGaN/GaN heterojuction field-effect transistors (HFETs) on Si designed specifically for microwave and millimeter-wave frequencies demonstrate a sufficiently high output power at these frequencies. Output powers of 203 W at 2.5 GHz and 10.7 W at 26.5 GHz are achieved by the fabricated GaN transistors. These devices for switching and high-frequency applications are very promising as future energy-efficient electronics because of their inherent low fabrication cost and superior device performance.

Blocking-voltage boosting technology for GaN transistors by widening depletion layer in Si substrates

We propose a novel technique to boost the blocking voltage of AlGaN/GaN hetero junction field effect transistors (HFETs) by widening a depletion layer in highly resistive Si substrate. The blocking-voltage boosting (BVB) technology utilizes ion implantation at the peripheral area of the chip as channel stoppers to terminate the leakage current from the interfacial inversion layers at AlN/Si. A depletion layer is widened in the substrate by the help of the channel stopper, which increases the blocking voltage of the HFET. The off-state breakdown voltage of the HFETs is increased up to 1340V by the BVB technology from 760V without the channel stoppers for the epitaxial GaN as thin as 1.4µm on Si. This technology greatly helps to increase the blocking voltage even for thin epitaxial GaN on Si, which leads to further reduction of the fabrication cost.

Effects of Deep Trapping States at High Temperatures on Transient Performance of AlGaN/GaN Heterostructure Field-Effect Transistors

Kinetic studies on the current collapse of a normally-OFF AlGaN/GaN heterostructure field-effect transistor under a high voltage have been performed above room temperature. The ON-state resistance after the ON switching from the OFF state increases at high temperatures, contrary to the expectation that the emission of electrons is enhanced at elevated temperatures. This result indicates that elevating the temperature enhances not only the emission of electrons but also their capture. We experimentally observe that the enhancement of the capture process at high temperatures originates from the energy barrier for the capture of electrons, the value of which is determined to be 0.17±0.04 eV. The origin of the energy barrier for the capture process is explained by a configuration coordinate diagram.

Structural investigation of sapphire surface after nitridation

Abstract Nitridation process of a sapphire surface was investigated with atomic force microscopy (AFM), reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) in order to reveal a general nitridation mechanism. It was found that the nitridation process consists of two steps. First, inter-mixing between nitrogen-related species and sapphire surface occurs forming hydrogenated Al oxynitride. This step does not change the surface morphology significantly. Second, crystalline AlN islands are gradually formed by further nitridation of hydrogenated Al oxynitride, resulting in a very rough surface.

Suppression of current collapse by hole injection from drain in a normally-off GaN-based hybrid-drain-embedded gate injection transistor

Current collapse is suppressed up to 800 V of drain voltage in our proposed device, Hybrid-Drain-embedded Gate Injection Transistor (HD-GIT), where an additional p-GaN layer is grown on the AlGaN barrier layer and is connected to the drain electrode. We present, based on a device simulation and electroluminescence study, that the hole injection from the additional drain-side p-GaN at the OFF state compensates the hole emission in the epilayer. As a result, the gate-drain access region is not negatively charged at the OFF state, resulting in the drastic suppression of current collapse in HD-GIT.

Separation of Thin GaN from Sapphire by Laser Lift-Off Technique

Laser lift-off of GaN from sapphire substrates has become a viable technique to increase the brightness of GaN-based light-emitting diodes (LEDs). The LEDs free from sapphire exhibit high luminous efficiency by placing highly reflective electrode on the back side. The devices serve low series resistance together with low thermal resistance taking advantages of the vertical structure. Thinner epitaxial structure is desired to serve better device performance, however, cracks in the film after the lift-off limits the minimum thickness. In this paper, successful laser lift-off of very thin GaN with the thickness down to 4 µm is described. The established laser lift-off system utilizes homogenized beam-profile of the employed neodymium-doped yttrium aluminium garnet (Nd:YAG) third harmonic laser in which optimization of the laser fluence minimizes the thickness of the decomposed GaN. It is also revealed by calculation that the compressive stress in the thin GaN is increased by reducing the thickness. It is demonstrated that the lattice of the GaN is relaxed after the laser lift-off, which is confirmed by photoluminescence (PL) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements. In addition, reduction of the wafer bowing of GaN on sapphire is experimentally confirmed after the laser irradiation with the formation of metal Ga in between the interface.

Recent Advances in GaN Power Switching Devices

Recent advances in GaN power switching devices are reviewed. A new normall-off GaN transistor called Gate Injection Transistor (GIT) increases drain current by conductivity modulation. The GIT is fabricated on cost-effective Si substrates by novel MOCVD technology enabling crack-free and smooth surfaces over 6-inch wafer. These technologies with thermally stable device isolation by Fe ion implantation are applied for a monolithic inverter IC. This is the world fist demonstration of a GaN inverter IC for motor drive, which reduces the total operating loss by 42% from that by the IGBT-based inverter. These technologies are indispensable for wide-spread use of GaN power switching transistors in the future.