Research of single-event burnout and hardened GaN MISFET with embedded PN junction

Abstract This paper describes a single-event burnout (SEB) simulation for a conventional GaN MISFET field plate (FPC-MISFET) and a MISFET with an embedded pn junction (EJ-MISFET). The SEB triggering mechanism is affected by impact ionization. The electrons, which are induced by heavy ion exposure, can rapidly move to the drain, which leads to strong impact ionization around the drain. Compared to the FPC-MISFET, both the peak electric field and the impact ionization around the drain are reduced in the GaN MISFET with the embedded pn junction. The proposed EJ-MISFET also shows improved SEB performance. For a heavy ion, with a linear energy transfer (LET) of 0.6 pC/μm (hitting the devices) vertically, the SEB threshold voltages for the FPC-MISFET and EJ-MISFET are 520 and 760 V, respectively.