Fast System to measure the dynamic on‐resistance of on‐wafer 600 V normally off GaN HEMTs in hard‐switching application conditions

Barbato, Alessandro; Barbato, Marco; Meneghini, Matteo; Silvestri, Marco; Detzel, Thomas; Haeberlen, Oliver; Spiazzi, G.; Meneghesso, Gaudenzio; Zanoni, Enrico

doi:10.1049/iet-pel.2019.1455

Cited by 15 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…Specific circuits [398], [566]- [568] can be used to test the degradation of GaN HEMTs induced by hot-electrons. A promising approach was proposed in [568], [569], based on the use of switching setups capable of monitoring on-wafer the effects of semi-on stress. By tuning the capacitance at the drain node, it is possible to control the amount of energy/charge released during hard switching events, and to evaluate the effect of stress on the devices.…”

Section: Semi-on-statementioning

confidence: 99%

GaN-based power devices: Physics, reliability, and perspectives

Meneghini

Santi

Abid

et al. 2021

Journal of Applied Physics

Self Cite

342

126

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Over the last decade, gallium nitride has emerged as an excellent material for the fabrication of power devices. Among the semiconductors for which power devices are already available on the market, GaN has the widest energy gap, the largest critical field, the highest saturation velocity, thus representing an excellent material for the fabrication of high speed/high voltage components.The presence of spontaneous and piezoelectric polarization allows to create a 2-dimensional electron gas, with high mobility and large channel density, in absence of any doping, thanks to the use of AlGaN/GaN heterostructures. This contributes to minimize resistive losses; at the same time, for GaN transistors switching losses are very low, thanks to the small parasitic capacitances and switching charges. Device scaling and monolithic integration enable high frequency operation, with consequent advantages in terms of miniaturization.For high power/high voltage operation, vertical device architectures are being proposed and investigated, and 3-dimensional structuresfin-shaped, trench-structured, nanowire-basedare demonstrating a great potential. Contrary to silicon, GaN is a relatively young material: trapping and degradation processes must be understood and described in detail, with the aim of optimizing device stability and reliability. This tutorial paper describes the physics, technology and reliability of GaN-based power devices: in the first part of the article, starting from a discussion of the main properties of the material, the characteristics of lateral and vertical GaN transistors are discussed in detail, to provide guidance in this complex and interesting field. The second part of the paper focuses on trapping and reliability aspects: the physical origin of traps in GaN, and the main degradation mechanisms are discussed in detail. The wide set of referenced papers and the insight on the most relevant aspects gives the reader a comprehensive overview on present and next-generation GaN electronics. IntroductionOver the past decade, gallium nitride has emerged as an excellent material for the fabrication of power semiconductor devices. Thanks to the unique properties of GaN, diodes and transistors based on this material have excellent performance, compared to their silicon counterparts, and are expected to find wide application in the next-generation power converters. Owing to the flexibility and the energy efficiency of GaN-based power converters, the interest towards this technology is rapidly growing: the aim of this tutorial is to review the most relevant physical properties, the operating principles, the fabrication parameters, and the stability/reliability issues of GaN-based power transistors. For introductory purposes, we start summarizing the physical reasons why GaN transistors achieve a much better performance than the corresponding silicon devices, to help the reader understanding the unique advantages of this technology.The properties of GaN devices allow the fabrication of high-efficiency (near or above 99 %)...

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Section: Semi-on-statementioning

confidence: 99%

GaN-based power devices: Physics, reliability, and perspectives

Meneghini

Santi

Abid

et al. 2021

Journal of Applied Physics

Self Cite

342

126

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…With the realistic application profile, steady-state continuous switching test is the best practice to perform a D-R DS,ON characterization. It is noteworthy that D-R DS,ON in continuous-switching converter (boost converter circuit [99]) has been performed at the wafer level, which could significantly shorten the R&D process of GaN HEMTs. The key to achieve this on-wafer dynamic characterization is the accurate control of parasitics in the whole system, e.g., probe tip, connectors, cables, which allows for reaching high switching speed and switching voltage/current.…”

Section: Characterization Methods and Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Need careful parasitic control; very hard to reach high switching speed and high voltage/current at wafer level[66],[99] …”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Stability, Reliability, and Robustness of GaN Power Devices: A Review

Kozak

Zhang

Porter

et al. 2023

IEEE Trans. Power Electron.

109

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Gallium nitride (GaN) devices are revolutionarily advancing the efficiency, frequency, and form factor of power electronics. However, the material composition, architecture and physics of many GaN devices are significantly different from silicon and silicon carbide devices. These distinctions result in many unique stability, reliability and robustness issues facing GaN power devices. This paper reviews the current understanding of these issues, particularly those related to dynamic switching, and their impacts on system performance. Instead of delving into reliability physics, this paper intends to provide power electronics engineers the necessary information for deploying GaN devices in existing and emerging applications, as well as provide references for the qualification evaluations of GaN power devices. The issues covered in this paper include the dynamic instability of device parameters (e.g., on-resistance, threshold voltage, output capacitance), the device robustness in avalanche, overvoltage and short-circuit conditions, the device's switching reliability and lifetime, as well as the device's ruggedness under radiation and extreme (cryogenic and elevated) temperatures. Knowledge gaps and immediate research opportunities in the relevant fields are also discussed. 1

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“…Taking the first requirement into consideration directly leads to the use of wide bandgap components and especially GaN-devices with their advantage of extremely low on-state resistance. Having a look at the second point, the literature regarding GaN-HEMTs alerts, since these devices can exhibit increased on-state resistance during switching operation compared to DC resistance [31,32]. This results from charge trapping effects within the device.…”

Section: Conduction Loss Estimation Of Gan-hemtsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Test setup using DC metering approach for loss measurements of inductive components – principle, characterization, validation and application

Kohlhepp

Kuebrich

Peller

et al. 2021

IET Power Electronics

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Accurate loss estimation of magnetic components is crucial for power electronics engineers. Unfortunately, loss predictions remain a quite challenging task, as these depend on many parameters and manufacturers typically do not deliver a sufficient database for precise loss estimations. Therefore, this paper revisits an approach allowing loss measurements. In contrast to the most common used approach using alternating current (AC) waveforms to gain information about the losses, this approach relies on measuring direct current (DC) voltage and current. After characterizing the experimental setup, air inductors serve as references to validate the approach. In a first step, the test setup is used to extract core losses with and without DC bias by designing a special device under test (DUT) featuring low winding loss. Furthermore, this paper demonstrates that the test setup is also able to gain the overall losses of complete magnetic components by using the DC metering approach.

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Fast System to measure the dynamic on‐resistance of on‐wafer 600 V normally off GaN HEMTs in hard‐switching application conditions

Cited by 15 publications

References 20 publications

GaN-based power devices: Physics, reliability, and perspectives

GaN-based power devices: Physics, reliability, and perspectives

Stability, Reliability, and Robustness of GaN Power Devices: A Review

Test setup using DC metering approach for loss measurements of inductive components – principle, characterization, validation and application

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