Design, fabrication, and performance analysis of GaN vertical electron transistors with a buried p/n junction

Journal Article · Mon May 04 00:00:00 EDT 2015 · Applied Physics Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4919866· OSTI ID:22399021

Yeluri, Ramya; Lu, Jing; Keller, Stacia; Mishra, Umesh K. ^[1]; Hurni, Christophe A.; Browne, David A.; Speck, James S. ^[2]; Chowdhury, Srabanti ^[3]

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1. Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California 93106 (United States)
2. Materials Department, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California 93106 (United States)
3. School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287 (United States)

The Current Aperture Vertical Electron Transistor (CAVET) combines the high conductivity of the two dimensional electron gas channel at the AlGaN/GaN heterojunction with better field distribution offered by a vertical design. In this work, CAVETs with buried, conductive p-GaN layers as the current blocking layer are reported. The p-GaN layer was regrown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition and the subsequent channel regrowth was done by ammonia molecular beam epitaxy to maintain the p-GaN conductivity. Transistors with high ON current (10.9 kA/cm{sup 2}) and low ON-resistance (0.4 mΩ cm{sup 2}) are demonstrated. Non-planar selective area regrowth is identified as the limiting factor to transistor breakdown, using planar and non-planar n/p/n structures. Planar n/p/n structures recorded an estimated electric field of 3.1 MV/cm, while non-planar structures showed a much lower breakdown voltage. Lowering the p-GaN regrowth temperature improved breakdown in the non-planar n/p/n structure. Combining high breakdown voltage with high current will enable GaN vertical transistors with high power densities.

• OSTI ID: 22399021
• Journal Information: Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 106, Issue 18; Other Information: (c) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0003-6951
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
AMMONIA
CHEMICAL VAPOR DEPOSITION
DEPLETION LAYER
ELECTRIC CONDUCTIVITY
ELECTRIC FIELDS
ELECTRIC POTENTIAL
ELECTRON GAS
ELECTRONS
FABRICATION
GALLIUM NITRIDES
HETEROJUNCTIONS
MOLECULAR BEAM EPITAXY
P-N JUNCTIONS
P-TYPE CONDUCTORS
TRANSISTORS
TWO-DIMENSIONAL SYSTEMS