Theoretical study of RF-breakdown in bulk GaN and GaN MESFETs

RF-breakdown was studied in bulk GaN and in GaN MESFETs using a full band Monte Carlo simulator. It was found that in bulk materials, increasing the frequency of an applied RF field would result in a lower overall impact ionization rate and consequently lead to higher breakdown fields. It was also found that the RF-breakdown voltage of devices increases with increasing frequency of the applied large signal RF excitation. The frequency dependence of RF-breakdown and the difference between RF and dc-breakdown is explained based on the time response of the particle energy to the change in the applied RF excitation.