Enhancement-mode GaN Monolithic Bidirectional Switch with Breakdown Voltage over 3.3 kV

Yijin Guo; Yuan Qin; Ming Xiao; Matthew Porter; Qihao Song; Daniel Popa; Loizos Efthymiou; Kai Cheng; Ivan Kravchenko; Linbo Shao; Han Wang; Florin Udrea; Yuhao Zhang

doi:10.1109/LED.2025.3539175

Enhancement-mode GaN Monolithic Bidirectional Switch with Breakdown Voltage over 3.3 kV

Yijin Guo, Yuan Qin, Ming Xiao, Matthew Porter, Qihao Song, Daniel Popa, Loizos Efthymiou, Kai Cheng, Ivan Kravchenko, Linbo Shao, Han Wang, Florin Udrea, Yuhao Zhang

Nanofabrication Research Laboratory

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

This work demonstrates a GaN enhancement-mode monolithic bidirectional switch (MBDS) with breakdown voltage (BV) higher than 3.3 kV in both polarities. This MBDS is realized on a dual p-GaN gate high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) platform on sapphire substrate. It features a novel dual junction termination extension design for electric field management, which is built on the p-GaN layer in the gate stack and does not require epitaxial regrowth. The GaN MBDS exhibits symmetric on-state characteristics in both directions with a threshold voltage (V_th) of 0.6 V and a low specific on-resistance (R_on,sp) of 5.6 mΩ·cm². This device presents the highest BV, as well as one of the best BV and R_on,sp trade-offs, in all the reported MBDS devices. The R_on,sp is lower than the performance limit of conventional BDS realized by two discrete devices. This 3.3 kV GaN MBDS opens the door for developing new circuit topologies and advancing system performance in medium-voltage power electronics.

Original language	English
Journal	IEEE Electron Device Letters
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/LED.2025.3539175
State	Accepted/In press - 2025

Keywords

bidirectional switch
GaN
HEMT
JTE
monolithic
power electronics
power semiconductor device

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10.1109/LED.2025.3539175

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@article{0fccc1aa06c240edaed4fd6987ed9398,

title = "Enhancement-mode GaN Monolithic Bidirectional Switch with Breakdown Voltage over 3.3 kV",

abstract = "This work demonstrates a GaN enhancement-mode monolithic bidirectional switch (MBDS) with breakdown voltage (BV) higher than 3.3 kV in both polarities. This MBDS is realized on a dual p-GaN gate high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) platform on sapphire substrate. It features a novel dual junction termination extension design for electric field management, which is built on the p-GaN layer in the gate stack and does not require epitaxial regrowth. The GaN MBDS exhibits symmetric on-state characteristics in both directions with a threshold voltage (Vth) of 0.6 V and a low specific on-resistance (Ron,sp) of 5.6 mΩ·cm2. This device presents the highest BV, as well as one of the best BV and Ron,sp trade-offs, in all the reported MBDS devices. The Ron,sp is lower than the performance limit of conventional BDS realized by two discrete devices. This 3.3 kV GaN MBDS opens the door for developing new circuit topologies and advancing system performance in medium-voltage power electronics.",

keywords = "bidirectional switch, GaN, HEMT, JTE, monolithic, power electronics, power semiconductor device",

author = "Yijin Guo and Yuan Qin and Ming Xiao and Matthew Porter and Qihao Song and Daniel Popa and Loizos Efthymiou and Kai Cheng and Ivan Kravchenko and Linbo Shao and Han Wang and Florin Udrea and Yuhao Zhang",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 1980-2012 IEEE.",

year = "2025",

doi = "10.1109/LED.2025.3539175",

language = "English",

journal = "IEEE Electron Device Letters",

issn = "0741-3106",

publisher = "Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers",

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T1 - Enhancement-mode GaN Monolithic Bidirectional Switch with Breakdown Voltage over 3.3 kV

AU - Guo, Yijin

AU - Qin, Yuan

AU - Xiao, Ming

AU - Porter, Matthew

AU - Song, Qihao

AU - Popa, Daniel

AU - Efthymiou, Loizos

AU - Cheng, Kai

AU - Kravchenko, Ivan

AU - Shao, Linbo

AU - Wang, Han

AU - Udrea, Florin

AU - Zhang, Yuhao

PY - 2025

Y1 - 2025

N2 - This work demonstrates a GaN enhancement-mode monolithic bidirectional switch (MBDS) with breakdown voltage (BV) higher than 3.3 kV in both polarities. This MBDS is realized on a dual p-GaN gate high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) platform on sapphire substrate. It features a novel dual junction termination extension design for electric field management, which is built on the p-GaN layer in the gate stack and does not require epitaxial regrowth. The GaN MBDS exhibits symmetric on-state characteristics in both directions with a threshold voltage (Vth) of 0.6 V and a low specific on-resistance (Ron,sp) of 5.6 mΩ·cm2. This device presents the highest BV, as well as one of the best BV and Ron,sp trade-offs, in all the reported MBDS devices. The Ron,sp is lower than the performance limit of conventional BDS realized by two discrete devices. This 3.3 kV GaN MBDS opens the door for developing new circuit topologies and advancing system performance in medium-voltage power electronics.

AB - This work demonstrates a GaN enhancement-mode monolithic bidirectional switch (MBDS) with breakdown voltage (BV) higher than 3.3 kV in both polarities. This MBDS is realized on a dual p-GaN gate high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) platform on sapphire substrate. It features a novel dual junction termination extension design for electric field management, which is built on the p-GaN layer in the gate stack and does not require epitaxial regrowth. The GaN MBDS exhibits symmetric on-state characteristics in both directions with a threshold voltage (Vth) of 0.6 V and a low specific on-resistance (Ron,sp) of 5.6 mΩ·cm2. This device presents the highest BV, as well as one of the best BV and Ron,sp trade-offs, in all the reported MBDS devices. The Ron,sp is lower than the performance limit of conventional BDS realized by two discrete devices. This 3.3 kV GaN MBDS opens the door for developing new circuit topologies and advancing system performance in medium-voltage power electronics.

KW - bidirectional switch

KW - GaN

KW - HEMT

KW - JTE

KW - monolithic

KW - power electronics

KW - power semiconductor device

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U2 - 10.1109/LED.2025.3539175

DO - 10.1109/LED.2025.3539175

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85217628879

SN - 0741-3106

JO - IEEE Electron Device Letters

JF - IEEE Electron Device Letters

ER -

Enhancement-mode GaN Monolithic Bidirectional Switch with Breakdown Voltage over 3.3 kV

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Keywords

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