I/UCRC FRP: Physics-Based Compact Modeling of Gallium Nitride (GaN) Devices for Advanced Power Electronics

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Advances in wide bandgap materials such as silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN) have led to substantial advances in power semiconductor devices and are now positioned to dominate the next generation of power electronics replacing silicon devices. This research focuses on the creation and validation of analytical models for state-of-the-art GaN power devices. The market share of GaN devices is expected to reach a staggering $15.6 billion by 2022, mainly due to growing demands in the power and energy sector, the communication infrastructure sector, and the power electronics market. GaN devices are expected to reduce overall energy conversion losses down to 1%, resulting in an annual savings of nearly $40 billion in US revenues. A high-efficiency and green energy infrastructure is vital for reducing overall expenditures and reducing the carbon footprint of the electronics industry on the environment. Silicon power semiconductor device models have been estimated to have an annual economic impact in excess of $40 million per year based on improved design productivity. The expected outcome from this fundamental research effort focuses on developing physics-based compact device models for circuit simulations that will help electronics engineers rapidly develop circuit designs and prototypes based on GaN devices. Impacts of this model will enable a side-by-side comparison of GaN and silicon devices at the design analysis phase. This in turn will likely promote increased usage of GaN semiconductor technology. The models generated by this research will be open access and made publicly accessible on the NSF Industry/University Cooperative Research Center on Grid-connected Advanced Power Electronic Systems (GRAPES). This research will develop and validate a physics-based compact device model for GaN power devices. The model will be derived analytically, based on the physics of carrier transport in the device layers as derived mathematically and observed through finite element simulations of device structures. The model, once derived and implemented, will be validated against experimentally measured data of commercially available GaN devices taken at University of Arkansas research laboratory facilities in collaboration with the industry partners of GRAPES. Once validated, a model parameter extraction method will be created so that users of the model can execute this procedure to obtain the parameters necessary to tailor the model's behavior to specific devices they may choose to employ from the various GaN power device suppliers in the world. The characterized model, when used in circuit simulations, will help electronics engineers to design and manufacture a wide range of GaN-based circuits that will increase the penetration of GaN devices in the US power, energy, communications, and transportation infrastructure.