Influence of a drain field plate on the forward blocking characteristics of an AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistor

• Published in: Chinese physics B 2013-11, Vol.22 (11), p.117307-1-117307-4
• Main Authors: Zhao, Sheng-Lei, Chen, Wei-Wei, Yue, Tong, Wang, Yi, Luo, Jun, Mao, Wei, Ma, Xiao-Hua, Hao, Yue
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Blocking; Drains; Electric potential; Filled plastics; Gates; High electron mobility transistors; Semiconductor devices; Voltage
• ISSN: 1674-1056; 1741-4199
• DOI: 10.1088/1674-1056/22/11/117307

In this paper, the influence of a drain field plate (FP) on the forward blocking characteristics of an AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) is investigated. The HEMT with only a gate FP is optimized, and breakdown voltage V sub(BR) is saturated at 1085 V for gate-drain spacingL sub(GD) [> or =] 8 mu m. On the basis of the HEMT with a gate FP, a drain FP is added with L sub(GD) = 10 mu m. For the length of the drain FP L sub(DF) [< or =] 2 mu m, V sub(BR) is almost kept at 1085 V, showing no degradation. When L sub(DF) exceeds 2 mu m, V sub(BR) decreases obviously as L sub(DF) increases. Moreover, the larger the L sub(DF), the larger the decrease of V sub(BR). It is concluded that the distance between the gate edge and the drain FP edge should be larger than a certain value to prevent the drain FP from affecting the forward blocking voltage and the value should be equal to the L sub(GD) at which V sub(BR) begins to saturate in the first structure. The electric field and potential distribution are simulated and analyzed to account for the decrease of V sub(BR).