1.2 kV/25 A Normally off P-N Junction/AlGaN/GaN HEMTs With Nanosecond Switching Characteristics and Robust Overvoltage Capability

With a reverse p-n junction in the gate stack design, this work demonstrates a 1.2 kV/25 A normally
off
p-n junction/AlGaN/GaN high-electron mobility transistor (PNJ-HEMT). Benefiting from the robust gate terminal, the PNJ-HEMT exhibits a large gate breakdown voltage of 18.2 V and a positive threshold voltage of 1.7 V, enabling a wide gate-bias window. Thereafter, with an applicable
V
_GS
of 10 V, the transient switching characteristics in nanosecond timescale (11.7-ns rise time and 10.5-ns fall time) and notable immunity to dynamic
R
_on
degradation, as well as record-high dynamic breakdown voltage (1.62 kV) under transient overvoltage have been demonstrated. In particular, rugged reliability is validated after over 1-million times dynamic breakdown with a 1.5-kV peak overvoltage. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of high-
V
_GS
(10 V) GaN HEMT's circuit-level operating capability with considerable reliability, and has well exceeded the
V
_GS
limit of 5–7 V in conventional
p
-GaN gate-terminal devices, thus possessing great potentials in high-power, high-frequency, and high-reliability applications.