United States

Reliability tests are a decisive step for GaN technology qualification. To evaluate the Mean Time to Failure (MTTF), it is necessary to know well the peak channel temperature (Tpeak) reached at the hottest point of the device. For an AlGaN/GaN High Electron Mobility Transistor (HEMT), this region lies at AlGaN/GaN interface where the two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) is located near the gate contact. InfraRed (IR) Thermography was performed on our GaN on Si HEMT devices to measure Tpeak. Considering the correction in underestimation of Tpeak temperature, the MTTF was extracted. We also performed Raman measurements and Tpeak was evaluated with the aid of 3-Dimensional thermal simulations. The Tpeak difference between IR and Raman technique is more than 100°C and far from the evaluation of about 40-50°C often found in literature. The reliability measurements show a high robustness and from the Raman approach MTTF is approximately 109 hours instead of the 106 hours estimated with the IR method at Tpeak =200°C.

IEEE WiPDA 2022

Peak Channel Temperature Determination for an AlGaN/GaN HEMT with Raman Thermography and MTTF Extraction for Long Term Reliability

failure

ramanthermography

mttf

hemt

infrared thermography

reliability

[![](https://assets.underline.io/uploads/markdown_image/1/image/985c8a40b04e56675221c8549975de3c.png)](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1B70nPIeeeqdG4UU70NlYXuKVOHLRuJEo/view?usp=sharing)

### ** History of DRC**
The Device Research Conference (DRC) began in the pre-transistor era with the 1942 establishment of the Conference on Electron Device Research (CEDR). Following William Shockley’s 1948 CEDR presentation of the transistor device, the Solid-State Device Research Conference (SSDRC) was established, with invitation-only attendance.

In the ensuing decades, many exciting firsts were presented at SSDRC, including the use of impurity diffusion in silicon and germanium, the first practical MOSFET, and the first lattice-matched heterojunction.

In 1969, under the leadership or Herbert Kroemer and Cal Quate, the CEDR and SSDRC merged into DRC. In 1970, attendance was opened to all, and the first DRAM (dynamic random-access memory), room temperature lasers, and first CCD (charge-coupled device) were reported—all in the same 1970 DRC meeting!

1976 saw the first official coordination of tandem meetings between DRC and the Electronic Materials Conference (EMC) to bring together the electronic materials and device communities—a custom which persists to this day. In 1991, DRC began publishing its digest with IEEE; they can all be found [here on IEEE Xplore](https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/conhome/1000199/all-proceedings). Throughout this period, DRC featured reports of many novel and record-setting devices, including the HEMT (High Electron Mobility Transistor), VCSEL (Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser), HBT (Heterojunction Bipolar Transistor), and nanoscale MOSFETs.

In recent years, DRC has continued to be the world’s premier forum to present innovative semiconductor device research with work on organic thin film transistors, graphene and carbon nanotube transistors, and 2D materials all featuring prominently in the 1990s through to the present day. In 2017, we celebrated DRC’s 75th anniversary with special sessions and an [article in the Journal of the Electron Device Society](https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=8168249&isnumber=8232486). DRC technical topics continue to evolve with emerging device trends such as memory devices, quantum devices, optoelectronics/photonics, and wide bandgap power devices to reflect the exciting work being done by a diverse community of device engineers around the globe.

Today, as we look forward to the next 75+ years of device innovation, DRC continues to lead the way in showcasing top-caliber research, facilitating vibrant discussion and debate and acting as a platform to nurture the next generation of device engineers. We welcome you to join us at the next DRC!

To learn more about DRC's history, please see [Aaron Franklin, Debdeep Jena and Deji Akinwande, "75 Years of the Device Research Conference—A History Worth Repeating," in IEEE Journal of the Electron Devices Society, vol. 6, pp. 116-120, 2018. doi: 10.1109/JEDS.2017.2780778](https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=8168249&isnumber=8232486).

### **Topics**
* Biological Devices
* Devices for Extreme Conditions
* Heterogeneously Integrated Devices
* Memory Devices
* Modeling and Simulation of Devices
* Nanoscale and Vacuum Devices
* Optoelectronic and Optical Devices
* Other Emerging Devices
* Power Devices
* Quantum Devices
* RF and Terahertz Devices
* Spintronic and Magnetic Devices
* Thin-film Devices
* Wide-bandgap Devices
 
### **Invited Speakers**
* Patrick Fay, University of Notre Dame
* Susanne Hoffmann-Eifert, Peter Grünberg Institute
* Sanghyeon Kim, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology
* Sriram Krishnamoorthy, University of California, Santa Barbara
* Mario Lanza, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology
* Xiuling Li, The University of Texas at Austin
* Marko Radosavljevic, Intel Corporation
* Siddharth Rajan, The Ohio State University
* Giordano Scappucci, Delft University of Technology
* Fisher Yu, University of Arkansas
* Wenjuan Zhu, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign




Registration is required to attend this event. If you have not already done so, please use the link below to register for a ticket to the conference:

https://www.mrs.org/drc-2022/registration

Registration Is Required

DRC 2022

DRC continues to be the world’s premier forum to present innovative semiconductor device research with work on organic thin film transistors, graphene and carbon nanotube transistors, and 2D materials all featuring prominently in the 1990s through to the present day. In 2017, we celebrated DRC’s 75th anniversary with special sessions and an article in the Journal of the Electron Device Society. 
DRC technical topics continue to evolve with emerging device trends such as memory devices, quantum devices, optoelectronics/photonics, and wide bandgap power devices to reflect the exciting work being done by a diverse community of device engineers around the globe.

technical paper

Download the proceedings [here](https://underline.io/events/372/lounge)
 
 
 The IEEE Workshop on Wide Bandgap Power Devices & Applications (WiPDA) provides a forum for device scientists, circuit designers, & application engineers from the Power Electronics & Electron Devices Societies to share technology updates, research findings, experience & potential applications.
 
 **Topics of interest**
* Heteroepitaxial & Bulk Materials Growth
* Gate Dielectrics & Surface Passivation
* Device Structures & Fabrication Techniques
* Device Characterization & Modeling
* Very-High Efficiency Or Compact Converters
* Safe Operating Areas Of Wide Bandgap Devices, including Short Circuit, Spike, &Transient Tolerance
* Harsh Environment (High Temperature) Operation & Reliability
* Packaging Power Modules & ICs
* Gate Drive & Other Auxiliary Circuits
* High-Performance Passive Components
* Hard-Switched & Soft-Switched Application Analysis
* Applications in Renewable Energy & Energy Storage, Transportation, Industrial Drives, Grid Power Systems, Space and Aerospace
* Wide Bandgap System Design Philosophies & Strategies
* Radio Frequency (RF) GaN
* Technology Roadmap of Wide Bandgap Including Devices, Applications and Packaging

You must register to attend this event. If you haven't done so already, please use the link below to register for the event. All registered attendees will have access to the event site on November 4th.

The IEEE Workshop on Wide Bandgap Power Devices & Applications (WiPDA) provides a forum for device scientists, circuit designers, & application engineers from the Power Electronics & Electron Devices Societies to share technology updates, research findings, experience & potential applications.

This paper reports on the high temperature (HT) robustness of enhancement-mode (E-mode) p-GaN-gated AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs), with an emphasis on the key transistor-level parameters for digital and analog mixed-signal applications. In-situ measurements from room temperature (RT) to 500 °C show that trends in Vth, RON, ID,max and IG,max are largely as expected based on firstorder changes in the semiconductor properties. The fabricated transistors exhibited stable performance over 20 days at 500 °C. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this work is the first systematic study on the HT performance of E-mode p-GaN-gated AlGaN/GaN HEMTs, and sheds light on their use in mixed-signal and low-voltage power circuits.

High Temperature Robustness of Enhancement-Mode p-GaN-Gated AlGaN/GaN HEMT Technology

In this work, the influence of various oxide electric field (۳ܠܗ (stress conditions on the gate oxide lifetime, gate leakage current, and threshold voltage of 1.2 kV 4H-SiC power planar metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) is investigated. The results suggest that high ۳ܠܗ stress (> 9.4 MV/cm) applied to the gate oxide of commercial SiC power MOSFETs for a certain period degrades the oxide lifetime due to high Fowler-Nordheim (F-N) electron tunneling current followed by hole trapping. Moreover, hole trapping enhances the gate leakage current and reduces the threshold voltage. Therefore, the generation of holes under high electric field conditions should be avoided to ensure the reliability of SiC power MOSFETs.

Effects of Oxide Electric Field Stress on the Gate Oxide Reliability of Commercial SiC Power MOSFETs

瀆 It has been demonstrated that basal plane dislocations (BPDs)-induced stacking faults (SFs) cause body diode degradation in commercial 4H-SiC power MOSFETs, especially with higher voltage ratings. BPDs originate from 4HSiC boule, epi growth, and ion implantation. Considering the lower cost of ion implantation at room temperature (RT), this work investigates the potential of RT ion implantation replacing heated (HT) ion implantation by comparing the influence of both ion implantations on the body diode degradation of commercial 3.3 kV 4H-SiC power MOSFETs. We demonstrate with long-term (up to 1000 hours) forward current stress that RT implantation can keep the body diode degradation of 3.3 kV 4H-SiC power MOSFETs within the specification limits compared with HT implantation.

A Comparison of Ion Implantation at Room Temperature and Heated Ion Implantation on the Body Diode Degradation of Commercial 3.3 kV 4H-SiC Power MOSFETs

This paper presents a comparison of 1.2 kV 4H-SiC MOSFETs and Ti JBSFETs with deep P-well structures. For a fair comparison of the short-circuit characteristics between the MOSFETs and JBSFETs, an innovative design approach for the JBSFETs was implemented to obtain the same specific on-resistance to the MOSFETs. To improve the short-circuit characteristics of the MOSFETs and JBSFETs, channeling implantation was conducted to form a deep P-well structure, that helps reduce the maximum saturation current during the shortcircuit event. Using this approach superior short-circuit characteristics are achieved in the MOSFETs and JBSFETs. However, the JBSFETs provide a shorter shortcircuit withstand time than the MOSFETs due to the high leakage current from Schottky contact. Sentaurus 2D TCAD was used to understand and clarify the short-circuit mechanisms of the MOSFETs and JBSFETs. It was discovered that the MOSFETs failed due to the high current in the channel region, but the failure of JBSFETs happens in the Schottky contact. Moreover, solutions to improve the short-circuit characteristics of the JBSFETs are proposed; a narrow Schottky width and high work function metal.

A Comparison of Short-Circuit Failure Mechanisms of 1.2 kV 4H-SiC MOSFETs and JBSFETs

Neutron-induced failures in power electronics are a source of concern in many high-reliability applications. This paper describes how to estimate the device's decreased lifetime expectancy based on its usage. The physical mechanism, Failure in Time (FIT) statistics and FIT rate calculation methodology are presented. Several Microchip SiC MOSFETs and Schottky barrier diodes at different voltage ratings were tested, and the results for the excess FIT rate calculation based on various factors such as operation voltage, altitude, device area, latitude, and duty factor are presented.

Failure Rate Calculation Due to Neutron Flux with SiC MOSFETs and Schottky Diodes

The same core device model is shown to accurately reproduce the current-voltage and capacitance-voltage characteristics of enhancement-mode GaN 100 V power transistors of various sizes. Using linear scaling, excellent agreement with measurements is achieved over an order of magnitude variation in total gate width. Fractional variation in onresistance is shown to decrease with increasing transistor size, with implications for integrated circuit-sized transistors where gate width decreases by up to 5 orders of magnitude.

Scaling of EPC’s 100 V Enhancement-Mode Power Transistors

In this paper, we discuss how advancements in the integration of gallium nitride (GaN) power ICs leads to faster switching, higher efficiencies, simplifier designs and improved reliability. Navitas’ integrated GaNSense™ technology features provide real-time sensing and protection to achieve these new levels.

Advancement in Integration for GaN Power ICs

In this study, the impact and correlation of drainand gate-voltage stress on the threshold voltage of commercially available p-gate GaN HEMTs are investigated. This is based on single-pulse measurements acquired with a custom pulse setup, thus the transient behavior can be determined and subsequently translated into dc characteristics. As a novelty, measurements of the threshold voltage for short-circuit stress of up to 600 V are shown. As a result, a constant threshold voltage shift is observed for on-state drain-voltage stress, while off-state drain-voltage and gate-voltage stress lead to a threshold voltage instability. Finally, drain stress and gate stress appears to superimpose, consequently already application-relevant gate-driving conditions show a drastic impact of the short-circuit capability.

Threshold Voltage Behavior and Short-Circuit Capability of p-Gate GaN HEMTs Depending on Drain- and Gate-Voltage Stress

To reduce global warming / human health impacts, governments around the globe have been committed to reduce greenhouse gas and pollutant emissions.  To achieve these goals, vehicles with internal combustion engines (ICEs) are being replaced at very fast pace by vehicles with electrified power trains, (e.g., battery-electric vehicles (BEVs), plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), fuel-cell electric vehicles (FCEVs), etc.) To offer electrified functions, many power-electronic (PE) modules are incorporated on these vehicles (e.g., traction inverters, DC/DC converters, on-board / off-board chargers, etc.)  In these PE modules, WBG devices have shown promising potentials replacing Si ones to achieve better performance, smaller footprints, lighter weights, etc.  However, from many view angles, many WBG products are working under higher stresses than the Si ones to deliver better performance, leading to concerns of lower long-term reliability / higher parameter drifts.  To convince automotive manufacturers / suppliers, WBG vendors should disclose the raw-wafer / epi-layer defect info (e.g., densities, failure mechanisms, long-term aging effects, etc.), quality assurance processes and qualification results, EOL screening processes and pass/fail criteria, production yields, test-to-failure data (e.g., Weibull charts, bath-tub curves), and actual field return results.  For comparison, Si experience will be shared in this presentation.

Reliable wide-bandgap (WBG) products for safety-critical automotive applications – what are expected

GaN power devices have been in mass production for over 12 years [1] and have arguably crossed over the tipping point in adoption with such end-uses as cell phone fast chargers, DC-DC converters for servers, motor drives for electric bicycles and scooters, class-D audio amplifiers, and lidar sensors for autonomous vehicles and robots.  Some of these applications first started using discrete GaN transistors and later converted to GaN integrated circuits.  Others have stayed with discrete devices.  This paper will discuss the reasons for different adoption rates in different applications and will speculate on the changes that will occur due to new GaN transistor performance and new capabilities in integrating functions in GaN.

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Peak Channel Temperature Determination for an AlGaN/GaN HEMT with Raman Thermography and MTTF Extraction for Long Term Reliability

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High Temperature Robustness of Enhancement-Mode p-GaN-Gated AlGaN/GaN HEMT Technology

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