Floating gates for avalanche suppression in MESFET´s

Author

Levinson, M. ; Rossoni, P.G. ; Butler, S. ; Ditchek, B.M.

Author_Institution

GTE Labs. Inc., Waltham, MA, USA

Volume

13

Issue

1

fYear

1992

Firstpage

61

Lastpage

63

Abstract

A metal-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MESFET) structure is proposed. It employs one or more uncontacted gate elements between the normal gate and the drain which float in potential in a manner similar to guard rings. These floating gates clamp the maximum electric field at the normal gate and inhibit avalanche breakdown. Numerical modeling of a typical GaAs MESFET with two floating gates demonstrates the field-clamping effect and shows a substantial increase in avalanche breakdown voltage and maximum output power relative to a similar conventional device.<>

Keywords

III-V semiconductors; Schottky gate field effect transistors; gallium arsenide; power transistors; GaAs; MESFETs; avalanche breakdown prevention; avalanche breakdown voltage; avalanche suppression; field-clamping effect; floating gates; maximum output power; modeling; semiconductors; uncontacted gate elements; Avalanche breakdown; Clamps; Computer simulation; FETs; Gallium arsenide; Geometry; MESFETs; Power generation; Solid modeling; Voltage;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Electron Device Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0741-3106

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/55.144952

Filename

144952