A discussion on various experimental methods of impact ionization coefficient measurement in GaN

Ji, Dong; Zeng, Ke; Bian, Zhengliang; Shankar, Bhawani; Gunning, Brendan P.; Binder, Andrew; Dickerson, Jeramy R.; Aktas, Ozgur; Anderson, Travis J.; Kaplar, Robert J.; Chowdhury, Srabanti

doi:10.1063/5.0083111

A discussion on various experimental methods of impact ionization coefficient measurement in GaN

Journal Article · Thu Mar 03 23:00:00 EST 2022 · AIP Advances

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0083111· OSTI ID:1870440

^[1]; ^[1]; Bian, Zhengliang ^[1]; Shankar, Bhawani ^[1]; ^[2]; ^[2]; Dickerson, Jeramy R. ^[2]; Aktas, Ozgur ^[3]; Anderson, Travis J. ^[4]; ^[2]; ^[1]

Stanford Univ., CA (United States)
Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
Edynx, Inc., Pleasanton, CA (United States)
Naval Research Lab. (NRL), Washington, DC (United States)

Impact ionization coefficients play a critical role in semiconductors. In addition to silicon, silicon carbide and gallium nitride are important semiconductors that are being seen more as mainstream semiconductor technologies. As a reflection of the maturity of these semiconductors, predictive modeling has become essential to device and circuit designers, and impact ionization coefficients play a key role here. Recently, several studies have measured impact ionization coefficients. We dedicated the first part of our study to comparing three experimental methods to estimate impact ionization coefficients in GaN, which are all based on photomultiplication but feature characteristic differences. The first method inserts an InGaN hole-injection layer, the accuracy of which is challenged by the dominance of ionization in InGaN, leading to possible overestimation of the coefficients. The second method utilizes the Franz–Keldysh effect for hole injection but not for electrons, where the mixed injection of induced carriers would require a margin of error. The third method uses complementary p–n and n–p structures that have been at the basis of this estimation in Si and SiC and leans on the assumption of a constant electric field, and any deviation would require a margin of error. In the second part of our study, we evaluated the models using recent experimental data from diodes demonstrating avalanche breakdown.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E); USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)

Grant/Contract Number:: NA0003525

OSTI ID:: 1870440

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1847432

Report Number(s):: SAND2022-3462J; 704362

Journal Information:: AIP Advances, Journal Name: AIP Advances Journal Issue: 3 Vol. 12; ISSN 2158-3226

Publisher:: American Institute of Physics (AIP)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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