600 V JEDEC-qualified highly reliable GaN HEMTs on Si substrates

In this paper, we demonstrate 600 V highly reliable GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) on Si substrates. GaN on Si technologies are most important for the mass-production at the Si-LSI manufacturing facility. High breakdown voltage over 1500 V was confirmed with stable dynamic on-resistance (R_ON) using cascode configuration package. These GaN HEMT on Si based cascode packages have passed the qualification based on the standards of the Joint Electron Devices Engineering Council (JEDEC) (1-5) for the first time. High voltage acceleration test was performed up to 1150 V. Even considering most conservative failure mechanism, mean time to failure (MTTF) of over 1×10⁷ hours at 600 V was predicted at 80°C. Additional conclusion is that conventional packages such as TO-220 are still suitable for high speed circuit application without using a specific gate driver. Ultimately GaN will significantly reduce conversion losses endemic in all areas of electricity conversion, ranging from power supplies to PV inverters to motion control to electric vehicles, enabling consumers, utilities and governments to contribute towards a more energy efficient world.