Reliability and failure analysis in power GaN-HEMTs: An overview
Power GaN transistors have recently demonstrated to be excellent devices for application in power electronics. The high breakdown field and the superior mobility of the 2-dimensional electron gas allow to fabricate transistors with low resistive and switching losses, that permit to increase the effi...
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Published in | 2017 IEEE International Reliability Physics Symposium (IRPS) pp. 3B-2.1 - 3B-2.8 |
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Main Authors | , , , , , , , , , , |
Format | Conference Proceeding |
Language | English |
Published |
IEEE
01.04.2017
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Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Power GaN transistors have recently demonstrated to be excellent devices for application in power electronics. The high breakdown field and the superior mobility of the 2-dimensional electron gas allow to fabricate transistors with low resistive and switching losses, that permit to increase the efficiency of switching mode power converters beyond 99 %. GaN-based transistors are currently supposed to be adopted in KW-range power converters; 650 V transistors are already available on the market, and 1200 V devices are currently under development. During operation, GaN power transistors can reach critical conditions, especially in the off-state (with a high VDS, in excess of 650 V), during hard-switching (where high current and voltage can be simultaneously present), and for high positive gate voltages (in the case of normally-off devices). This paper reports our most recent results on the gradual and catastrophic degradation of GaN-based power HEMTs. We present the results of three different case studies, on: (i) the time-dependent breakdown of power HEMTs submitted to high off-state stress; (ii) the degradation of HEMTs with p-GaN gate submitted to high gate stress; (iii) the hot electron effects in GaN-MISHEMTs submitted to high-temperature source current stress. |
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ISSN: | 1938-1891 |
DOI: | 10.1109/IRPS.2017.7936282 |