CAREER: Nitride FinFET on Silicon for Medium-Voltage Monolithically Integrated Power Electronics

事业：用于中压单片集成电力电子器件的硅基氮化物 FinFET

• 批准号: 2045001
• 负责人: Yuhao Zhang
• 金额: $ 50万
• 依托单位: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-02-15 至 2026-01-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2045001&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CAREER; Nitride; FinFET; Silicon; Medium

Title: CAREER: Nitride FinFET on Silicon for Medium-Voltage Monolithically Integrated Power ElectronicsProposal Number: 2045001Principal Investigator: Yuhao ZhangInstitution: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State UniversityNontechnical AbstractMedium-voltage (600-1700 V) power devices are key for efficient power conversion in electric vehicles, solar farms, power grids, among other applications. They are among the fastest-growing sectors in the $40 billion power semiconductor market. Today’s medium-voltage devices are mainly made of silicon (Si) and silicon carbide (SiC). Gallium nitride (GaN) has superior physical properties over Si and SiC for power applications. Recently, the vertical GaN power field-effect transistor (FinFET), a new power transistor utilizing sub-micron-meter fin channels, has demonstrated one of the best performances in all medium-voltage transistors. However, all existing vertical GaN FinFETs employ small-diameter and high-cost GaN substrates, which hinders their commercialization. This CAREER proposal aims at developing a new generation of medium-voltage vertical GaN power FinFETs on low-cost, large-diameter Si substrates with high performance, and fabricating them on the same wafer with the low-voltage lateral GaN FinFETs or tri-gate transistors, hence allowing monolithic integration of the driving circuitry and medium-voltage power devices for the first time. This project, if successful, will enable an unprecedented advancement in the performance, frequency, efficiency, and form factor of the medium-voltage power electronic systems. This project provides opportunities for student education and outreach: (a) establishing an integrated undergraduate research program tackling interdisciplinary problems in the fields of materials, devices, and power electronics; (b) mentoring the participating students with the industrial collaborators and promoting the student interactions with the power semiconductor industries; (c) contributing to the pre-college summer camps and providing summer research opportunities to K-12 students and teachers in microelectronics. The program will actively engage students from underrepresented minority groups in microelectronics research and education. Technical AbstractThe overarching objective of this project is to build a monolithic “full GaN FinFET” platform on Si substrates, which shares common processing technologies and device building blocks, where the high-voltage, vertical GaN FinFET is employed for power processing and the low-voltage, lateral GaN FinFETs/trigate FETs are used for information processing. The interdisciplinary nature of this project offers significant intellectual merits in materials, devices, processing technologies, and power modules: (a) New characterization methods will be established to map the leakage current in GaN-on-Si with spatial resolutions down to the nanometers and characterize the trap-mediated breakdown voltage with temporal resolutions down to the nanoseconds. (b) Innovative function structures will be explored to overcome the insulating and highly-defective buffer layers in GaN-on-Si structure and enable superior electrical, thermal, and mechanical performances in fully-vertical GaN-on-Si power FinFETs. (c) Innovative epitaxial structure and fabrication processes will be established to enable the monolithic integration of medium-voltage vertical FinFETs and lateral digital FinFETs/tri-gate-FETs. (d) Advanced models and simulations will be explored to link the microscopic material non-idealities and circuit dynamics to device designs and optimizations, which has been a long knowledge gap in nitride devices and materials.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

标题：职业：用于中压单片集成电力电子的硅基氮化物 FinFET 提案编号：2045001 首席研究员：张宇豪 机构：弗吉尼亚理工学院和州立大学 非技术摘要 中压（600-1700 V）功率器件是电动汽车、太阳能发电场、电网等领域高效电力转换的关键 应用程序。它们是价值 400 亿美元的功率半导体市场中增长最快的领域之一。当今的中压器件主要由硅（Si）和碳化硅（SiC）制成。在电力应用方面，氮化镓 (GaN) 的物理性能优于 Si 和 SiC。最近，垂直GaN功率场效应晶体管（FinFET），一种利用亚微米鳍沟道的新型功率晶体管，已展现出所有中压晶体管中最佳性能之一。然而，现有的垂直GaN FinFET均采用小直径、高成本的GaN衬底，这阻碍了其商业化。该CAREER提案旨在在低成本、大直径高性能Si衬底上开发新一代中压垂直GaN功率FinFET，并将其与低压横向GaN FinFET或三栅晶体管制造在同一晶圆上，从而首次实现驱动电路和中压功率器件的单片集成。该项目如果成功，将使中压电力电子系统的性能、频率、效率和外形尺寸取得前所未有的进步。该项目为学生教育和推广提供了机会：（a）建立一个综合的本科研究项目，解决材料、器件和电力电子领域的跨学科问题； (b) 指导参赛学生与行业合作者，并促进学生与功率半导体行业的互动； (c) 为大学预科夏令营做出贡献，并为 K-12 学生和教师提供微电子领域的暑期研究机会。该计划将积极吸引少数群体的学生参与微电子研究和教育。技术摘要该项目的总体目标是在硅衬底上构建单片“全GaN FinFET”平台，该平台共享通用的处理技术和器件构建模块，其中高压垂直GaN FinFET用于功率处理，低压横向GaN FinFET/三栅极FET用于信息处理。该项目的跨学科性质在材料、器件、加工技术和电源模块方面提供了重要的智力优势：（a）将建立新的表征方法，以空间分辨率低至纳米的方式绘制硅基氮化镓的漏电流图，并以低至纳秒的时间分辨率表征陷阱介导的击穿电压。 (b) 将探索创新的功能结构，以克服 GaN-on-Si 结构中的绝缘和高缺陷缓冲层，并在全垂直 GaN-on-Si 功率 FinFET 中实现卓越的电气、热和机械性能。 (c) 将建立创新的外延结构和制造工艺，以实现中压垂直 FinFET 和横向数字 FinFET/三栅极 FET 的单片集成。 (d) 将探索先进的模型和模拟，将微观材料非理想性和电路动力学与器件设计和优化联系起来，这在氮化物器件和材料领域一直是一个长期的知识差距。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优点和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

项目成果

Vertical GaN Fin JFET: A Power Device with Short Circuit Robustness at Avalanche Breakdown Voltage

垂直 GaN Fin JFET：在雪崩击穿电压下具有短路鲁棒性的功率器件

• DOI: 10.1109/irps48227.2022.9764569
• 发表时间: 2022
• 期刊: Vertical GaN Fin JFET: A Power Device with Short Circuit Robustness at Avalanche Breakdown Voltage
• 作者: Zhang, R.;Liu, J.;Li, Q.;Pidaparthi, S.;Edwards, A.;Drowley, C.;Zhang, Y.
• 通讯作者: Zhang, Y.

Exceptional Repetitive-Short-Circuit Robustness of Vertical GaN Fin-JFET at High Voltage

垂直 GaN Fin-JFET 在高电压下具有出色的重复短路鲁棒性

• DOI: 10.1109/ispsd49238.2022.9813618
• 发表时间: 2022
• 期刊: Exceptional Repetitive-Short-Circuit Robustness of Vertical GaN Fin-JFET at High Voltage
• 作者: Zhang, R.;Liu, J.;Li, Q.;Pidaparthi, S.;Edwards, A.;Drowley, C.;Zhang, Y.
• 通讯作者: Zhang, Y.

Power device breakdown mechanism and characterization: review and perspective

功率器件击穿机制和表征：回顾与展望

• DOI: 10.35848/1347-4065/acb365
• 发表时间: 2023
• 期刊: Japanese Journal of Applied Physics
• 影响因子: 1.5
• 作者: Zhang, Ruizhe;Zhang, Yuhao
• 通讯作者: Zhang, Yuhao

Robust Through-Fin Avalanche in Vertical GaN Fin-JFET With Soft Failure Mode

具有软故障模式的垂直 GaN Fin-JFET 中的稳健穿鳍雪崩

• DOI: 10.1109/led.2022.3144698
• 发表时间: 2022
• 期刊: IEEE Electron Device Letters
• 影响因子: 4.9
• 作者: Zhang, Ruizhe;Liu, Jingcun;Li, Qiang;Pidaparthi, Subhash;Edwards, Andrew;Drowley, Cliff;Zhang, Yuhao
• 通讯作者: Zhang, Yuhao

1 kV GaN-on-Si Quasi-Vertical Schottky Rectifier

• DOI: 10.1109/led.2023.3282025
• 发表时间: 2023-07
• 期刊: IEEE Electron Device Letters
• 影响因子: 4.9
• 作者: Yuan Qin;M. Xiao;Ruizhe Zhang;Q. Xie;Tomás Palacios;Boyan Wang;Yunwei Ma;I. Kravchenko;Dayrl P. Briggs;D. Hensley;B. Srijanto;Yuhao Zhang