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Authors
Abstract
Gallium Nitride (GaN) has the potential to revolutionize the mostly silicon dominated field of power electronics due to
its superior material properties. A key challenge to commercialization of GaN devices is that high performance GaN
power devices are normally-on (depletion mode). In order for safe, efficient operation of power converter circuits,
transistor devices need to be normally-off (enhancement mode). The current methods of achieving enhancement mode
operation result in insufficiently height threshold voltage (less than 1 V), performance reduction, high gate leakage,
difficult epitaxial growth, off-chip transistors or a combination of these problems. To address these challenges a new
technology has been invented which allows for high, positive threshold voltage (greater than +2V), high mobility, low
leakage metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (MOS-HFETs). These devices have a simple epitaxial
structure requiring no p-type doping or epitaxial regrowth. This technology thus addresses one of the main challenges
encountered with high performance GaN power switching circuits. This technology has been reduced to practice
demonstrating an enhancement mode GaN switching transistor in a boost converter circuit.