FORTHCOMING GALLIUM NITRIDE BASED POWER DEVICES IN PROMPTING THE DEVELOPMENT OF HIGH POWER APPLICATIONS

Recent advances in silicon technology have pushed the silicon properties to its theoretical limits. Therefore, wide band gap semiconductors, such as silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN) have been considered as a replacement for silicon. The discovery of these wide band gap semiconductors have given the new generation power devices a magnificent prospect of surviving under high temperature and hostile environments. The primary focuses of this review are the properties of GaN, the alternative substrates that can be used to deposit GaN and the substitution of SiO2 gate dielectric with high dielectric constant (k) film. The future perspectives of AlGaN/GaN heterostructures are also discussed, providing that these structures are able to further enhance the performance of high power devices.