Polarization Engineering to Manipulate the Breakdown Voltage for GaN-Based PIN Diodes

Abstract

This study proposes to increase the breakdown voltage for GaN-based PIN diodes using the polarization effect, such that a thin AlGaN layer is inserted into the drift layer to modulate the electric field profiles, and by properly designing the device architecture, the electric field in the drift layer can be remarkably reduced by the polarization effect, and this enables the enhancement of the breakdown voltage. The study further investigates the parametric sensitivity of the breakdown voltage for the proposed GaN-based PIN diodes to different device structures with various drift layer thicknesses. Moreover, it is found that the position of the inserted AlGaN thin layer is also important in affecting the breakdown voltage, such that the AlGaN insertion layer reduces the electric field with the maximum intensity in the drift layer.