Meandering Gate Edges for Breakdown Voltage Enhancement in AlGaN/GaN HEMTs

Herein, a unique device-design strategy is reported for increasing the breakdown voltage and hence Baliga figure of merit (BFOM) of III-nitride high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) by engineering the gate edge toward the drain. The breakdown of such devices with meandering gate-drain access region (M-HEMT) are found to be 62% more compared with that of conventional HEMT whereas the on-resistance suffers by 76%, leading to an overall improvement in the BFOM for by 28%. The 3D technology computer-aided design simulations show that the decrease in the peak electric field at the gate edge was responsible for increased breakdown voltage.