Mechanism of improving forward and reverse blocking voltages in AIGaN/GaN HEMTs by using Schottky drain

In this paper, we demonstrate that a Schottky drain can improve the forward and reverse blocking voltages(BVs)simultaneously in AlGaN/GaN high-electron mobility transistors(HEMTs). The mechanism of improving the two BVs is investigated by analysing the leakage current components and by software simulation. The forward BV increases from72 V to 149 V due to the good Schottky contact morphology. During the reverse bias, the buffer leakage in the Ohmicdrain HEMT increases significantly with the increase of the negative drain bias. For the Schottky-drain HEMT, the buffer leakage is suppressed effectively by the formation of the depletion region at the drain terminal. As a result, the reverse BV is enhanced from-5 V to-49 V by using a Schottky drain. Experiments and the simulation indicate that a Schottky drain is desirable for power electronic applications.