Simulation of AlGaN/GaN HEMTs’ breakdown voltage enhancement using gate field-plate, source field-plate and drain field plate

Abstract

A 2-D simulation of off-state breakdown voltage (VBD) for AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) with multi field-plates (FPs) is presented in this paper. The effect of geometrical variables of FP and insulator layer on electric field distribution and VBD are investigated systematically. The FPs can modulate the potential lines and distribution of an electric field, and the insulator layer would influence the modulation effect of FPs. In addition, we designed a structure of HEMT which simultaneously contains gate FP, source FP and drain FP. It is found that the VBD of AlGaN/GaN HEMTs can be improved greatly with the corporation of gate FP, source FP and drain FP. We achieved the highest VBD in the HEMT contained with three FPs by optimizing the structural parameters including length of FPs, thickness of FPs, and insulator layer. For HEMT with three FPs, FP-S alleviates the concentration of the electric field more effectively. When the length of the source FP is 24 µm and the insulator thickness between the FP-S and the AlGaN surface is 1950 nm, corresponding to the average electric field of about 3 MV/cm at the channel, VBD reaches 2200 V. More importantly, the 2D simulation model is based on a real HMET device and will provide guidance for the design of a practical device.