Crosstalk in monolithic GaN-on-Silicon power electronic devices

• Published in: Microelectronics and reliability Vol. 54; no. 9-10; pp. 2242 - 2247
• Main Authors: Unni, V., Kawai, H., Narayanan, E.M.S.
• Format: Journal Article Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 01.09.2014; Elsevier
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Crosstalk; Design. Technologies. Operation analysis. Testing; Diodes; Electrical engineering. Electrical power engineering; Electronic equipment and fabrication. Passive components, printed wiring boards, connectics; Electronics; Exact sciences and technology; GaN-on-Silicon; Integrated circuits; Power electronic devices; Power electronics, power supplies; Semiconductor electronics. Microelectronics. Optoelectronics. Solid state devices; GaN-on-Silicon; Power electronic devices; Crosstalk; Performance evaluation; Binary compound; Grounding; Power electronics; Gallium nitride; Steady state; III-V compound; Electrical measurement; Static conditions; Electronic component; Power device; Silicon diodes; Power diode; Silicon; Monolithic integrated circuit; Power integrated circuits; Electrical characteristic
• ISSN: 0026-2714; 1872-941X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.microrel.2014.07.104

We report the presence of “crosstalk” in monolithic GaN-on-Silicon power diodes through simple and systematic electrical measurements. The finding is beneficial to the performance assessment of monolithically integrated power electronic circuits based on GaN-on-Silicon technology. Our approach consists of evaluating the impact on the steady state device electrical characteristics by inducing a perturbation bias on an electrode of an isolated device in the vicinity. It has been observed that the behaviour is primarily responsive to a perturbation bias of negative polarity and effectively manifests itself as reduced forward conductivity in devices. The impact of biasing an electrode of a neighbouring isolated device under floating substrate conditions and the impact of only biasing the Silicon substrate appear to be equivalent, indicating that the former behaviour may be due to the capacitively induced potential of the otherwise electrically unbiased/floating Silicon substrate. Grounding the Silicon substrate appears to mitigate the impact of the crosstalk effects under static conditions. Basic structural details of the devices under evaluation and preliminary results of the study are reported.