High Breakdown-Voltage AlGaN/GaN High Electron Mobility Transistor having a Trapezoidal Gate Structure

We propose a trapezoidal gate AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistor(HEMT) to improve the breakdown voltage characteristics and its feasibility is investigated by two-dimensional device simulations. The use of a trapezoidal gate structure appears to be quite effective in dispersing the electric fields concentrated near the gate edge on the drain side from the simulation result. We find that a peak value of the electric field along the 2-DEG channel is reduced by 30%, from 4.8 to 3.5 MV/cm and thereby, the breakdown voltage(Vbr) of the proposed AlGaN/GaN HEMT is increased by about 40%, from 49 to 69 V, compared to those of the standard AlGaN/GaN HEMT.