Record Breakdown Voltage (2200 V) of GaN DHFETs on Si With 2- $\mu\hbox {m}$ Buffer Thickness by Local Substrate Removal

In this letter, we present a local substrate removal technology (under the source-to-drain region), reminiscent of through-silicon vias and report on the highest ever achieved breakdown voltage (V_BD) of AlGaN/GaN/AlGaN double heterostructure FETs on a Si (111) substrate with only 2-μm-thick AlGaN buffer. Before local Si removal, V_BD saturates at ~700 V at a gate-drain distance (L_GD) ≥ 8 μm. However, after etching away the substrate locally, we measure a record V_BD of 2200 V for the devices with L_GD = 20 μm. Moreover, from Hall measurements, we conclude that the local substrate removal integration approach has no impact on the 2-D electron gas channel properties.