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Title: A study on the impact of mid-gap defects on vertical GaN diodes

Journal Article · · IEEE Transactions on Semiconductor Manufacturing
 [1];  [2];  [2];  [3];  [2];  [4];  [4];  [2]
  1. National Research Council, Washington, DC (United States)
  2. Naval Research Lab. (NRL), Washington, DC (United States)
  3. American Society for Engineering Education, Washington, DC (United States)
  4. Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

GaN is a favorable martial for future efficient high voltage power switches. GaN has not dominated the power electronics market due to immature substrate, homoepitaxial growth, and immature processing technology. Understanding the impact of the substrate and homoepitaxial growth on the device performance is crucial for boosting the performance of GaN. Here, we studied vertical GaN PiN diodes that were fabricated on non-homogenous Hydride Vapor Phase Epitaxy (HVPE) substrates from two different vendors. We show that defects which stemmed from growth techniques manifest themselves as leakage hubs. Different non-homogenous substrates showed different distribution of those defects spatially with the lesser quality substrates clustering those defects in clusters that causes pre-mature breakdown. Energetically these defects are mostly mid-gap around 1.8Ev with light emission spans from 450nm to 700nm. Photon emission spectrometry and hyperspectral electroluminescence were used to locate these defects spatially and energetically.

Research Organization:
Sandia National Lab. (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:
AC04-94AL85000; NA0003525
OSTI ID:
1667412
Report Number(s):
SAND-2020-8957J; 690211
Journal Information:
IEEE Transactions on Semiconductor Manufacturing, Vol. 33, Issue 4; ISSN 0894-6507
Publisher:
IEEECopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English