Gallium nitride (GaN) is considered as a new generation of materials for the manufacture of high-power electronic components, but so far this material has suffered from breakdown voltages slightly higher than 250V; North Carolina State University, USA Researchers at North Carolina State University said they have found a way to raise the breakdown voltage of the GaN device to 1,650V, and thus increase its power handling by a factor of ten. Nitride elements with high power carrying capacity will be applicable in many emerging fields, including smart-grids and electric vehicles. Jay Baliga, a professor at North Carolina State University, said that they are implanting a neutral species, argon, along the termination electrode of the GaN component. The electrical fields will It is spread out, and thus avoids premature breakdown voltages (see the figure below). Baliga collaborated with Ph.D. candidate Merve Ozbek to conduct the above study.
The researchers increased the breakdown voltage of this type of device from 300V to 1,650V by performing ion implantation (green part) on the terminal electrode of the GaN device.
“The biggest problem with high-voltage power components is the premature breakdown voltage at their edges; we have developed a new planar edge termination electrode technology for GaN devices that uses argon ion implantation to make a piece of the edge of the device. A thin, amorphous layer achieves a nearly idealized planarization parallel collapse voltage,†Ozbek said. “The implant forms a thin, high-resistance area on the surface of the diode element's edge, helping to disperse the element's edge surface. The potential, and lower the electric field."
The researchers used GaN to fabricate the Schottky diode to test the newly developed technology and successfully increased the breakdown voltage to 1,650 V, which is almost seven times the original value; therefore, the resistance of the GaN component is also given. Green is reduced by 100 times and its power capacity is increased ten times.