Gate leakage effects of annealing Lanthanum Oxide on Gallium Nitride

Gallium nitride, a wide band gap semiconductor, is a strong candidate for next generation power electronic devices due to its high thermal conductivity and critical electric field. It is desirable to increase the switching speed and operating voltage of power transistors and diodes to decrease loss and increase efficiency. Junction temperatures and switching speeds desired for high power field-effect transistors are approaching the limit of silicon-based devices, therefore new alternatives must be examined. Toyota has specifically stated that wide band gap semiconductor devices offer distinct and desirable advantages over silicon due to high electric field breakdown and thermal capacity. A key performance benchmark of FETs is channel sheet charge, n_s. Results for lanthanum oxide on gallium nitride yielded record breaking sheet charge, however several process integration challenges still exist.