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Letters
Demonstration of Avalanche and Surge Current Robustness in GaN Junction
Barrier Schottky Diode With 600-V/10-A Switching Capability
Feng Zhou , Student Member, IEEE, Weizong Xu , Member, IEEE, Fangfang Ren, Dong Zhou , Dunjun Chen ,
Rong Zhang, Youdou Zheng, Tinggang Zhu, and Hai Lu , Senior Member, IEEE

Abstract—In this letter, we achieved significantly enhanced Nowadays, gallium nitride (GaN) based power devices have
avalanche ruggedness and surge current capability in GaN junction invoked great interest for high-frequency and high-efficiency
barrier Schottky (JBS) diode for highly reliable power operation.
power applications [1]. The attractive properties of GaN, in-
Based on the selective Mg-ion implantation technology, the GaN
JBS diode obtains superior electrostatic performances, including cluding wide bandgap, high breakdown electric field, and high
830-V breakdown voltage, 150-mΩ specific ON-state resistance, electron mobility, boast GaN as competitive candidate for the
and 0.5-V turning ON voltage. Meanwhile, zero reverse recovery next-generation power devices [2], [3]. Among the GaN power
behaviors are observed even under extreme switching conditions of rectifiers, the vertical GaN Schottky barrier diode (SBD) can
600 V/10 A. During the reliability evaluation in the inductive load deliver lower conduction/switching losses and higher switching
circuits, crucial avalanche capability with avalanche breakdown
voltage over 965 V, avalanche energy up to 57.8 mJ, and more than frequency, owing to its lower forward voltage and faster reverse
10 000 repetitive avalanche breakdown events are demonstrated. recovery behavior [4], [5]. Despite the inspiring material at-
Together with the surge current tolerance up to 65 A and surge tributes and outstanding performance, the reliability of GaN
energy of 6.0 J, a large safe-operation-area under both forward technology is still a major hurdle to its widespread market
and reverse inductive spikes is realized for the GaN-based rectifier. adoption [6]. Especially, the device performances under mo-
Index Terms—Avalanche breakdown, GaN, junction barrier mentary spikes that could lead to critical breakdown or current
Schottky (JBS) diode, safe-operation-area (SOA), surge current. surge have large research significances [6]–[8]. As has been
demonstrated in Si and SiC power devices, rugged avalanche
capability that dissipates transient energy via impact ionization
I. INTRODUCTION without triggering destructive breakdown, and a strong surge
RANSIENTS, i.e., momentary spikes in voltage or cur- current tolerance in forward conduction, largely determines the
T rent, which generally couples from lightning, electrostatic
discharge, and circuits experiencing a sudden change due to
robustness and safe-operation-area (SOA) of the power device
against transients [9], [10]. Thus, the avalanche breakdown
a switch opening or a short occurring, can disrupt or damage and surge current characteristics in GaN device with relatively
the electronic devices connected to signal or power lines. This more severe reliability concerns worth specific investigations
situation deteriorates in power systems, where power devices [11], [12].
are operating under critical conditions of high voltage and large Recent advances in the reliability of GaN-based rectifiers
current. Therefore, power devices with robustness against tran- show certain success in p–n diodes (PNDs), achieving a high
sients are the essential part in power modules for safe operation. avalanche energy of ∼60 mJ and a surge current of ∼10 A
[13], [14]. However, GaN SBDs have encountered a more
difficult path to achieve reliable operation. The electric field
Manuscript received February 5, 2021; revised April 8, 2021; accepted April
26, 2021. Date of publication April 29, 2021; date of current version July 30, spike near Schottky contact edge and the leakage path along the
2021. This work was supported in part by the National Key R&D Program of dislocations [15], as well as the severe thermal budget under
China under Grant 2017YFB0403000 and in part by the National Natural Science high-power operation could result in large leakage current and
Foundation of China under Grants 61921005 and 62004099. (Corresponding
authors: Weizong Xu; Hai Lu.) poor breakdown voltage (BV) [4], [5]. In this letter, p-GaN
Feng Zhou, Weizong Xu, Fangfang Ren, Dong Zhou, Dunjun Chen, Rong islands with micrometer spacing are produced underneath the
Zhang, Youdou Zheng, and Hai Lu are with the School of Electronic Science anode contact, forming a junction barrier Schottky (JBS) like
and Engineering, Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstruc-
tures, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China (e-mail: dg1923060@smail. structure, which is effective to push the peak electrical field away
nju.edu.cn; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; from the metal/semiconductor contact interface and suppress
[email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; hailu@nju. reverse leakage current [16]–[18].
edu.cn).
Tinggang Zhu is with the CorEnergy Semiconductor Company Ltd., Suzhou Correspondingly, the diode exhibit impressive dc perfor-
215000, China (e-mail: [email protected]). mances and zero reverse recovery behavior under 600-V/10-A
Color versions of one or more figures in this article are available at https: switching conditions, providing qualified device for the circuit-
//doi.org/10.1109/TPEL.2021.3076694.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TPEL.2021.3076694 level reliability evaluation, which is indispensable for the final

0885-8993 © 2021 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission.
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 12164 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 36, NO. 11, NOVEMBER 2021

Fig. 1. (a) Optical microscope image and (b) zoomed-in multifinger region of
the GaN JBS diode. (c) 3-D cross-sectional view along line AA’.

technology adoption [2]. Rugged avalanche capability and large

surge current tolerance have been demonstrated, presenting a
high avalanche energy of 57.8 mJ with BV of 965 V, and a high
surge energy of 6.0 J with surge current of 65 A, obtaining a
broad safety margin in reliability for the GaN diode. Besides,
with the application and evaluation of the substrate thinning
technique, heat accumulation effects have been identified as the
dominant factor in determining the safety margin. This work thus Fig. 2. (a) Forward and (b) reverse I–V characteristics in log scale and linear
scale. (c) Benchmark of VF versus BV of the GaN-on-GaN/Si/sapphire GaN
clearly demonstrates the notable potentials of the sapphire-based SBDs and GaN PNDs. VF values are extracted from the linear extrapolation of
quasi-vertical GaN JBS diodes in the low-cost, high-efficiency, the forward current or at current density of 100 A/cm2 [4]. (d) Reverse recovery
and highly reliable power applications. characteristics of the GaN JBS diode and similar-rated commercial SiC SBD
and Si FRD. Inset: Zoomed-in waveforms. trr is defined as the time when the
reverse current recovers to 10% of its peak value. Qrr is calculated by the time-
II. DEVICE FABRICATION AND CHARACTERIZATIONS integration of reverse current.

Fig. 1 shows the optical image and schematic cross-sectional duty cycle), producing a low differential specific on-resistance
view of the quasi-vertical GaN JBS diode fabricated on a 4-in (Ron ) of 0.15 Ω. Meanwhile, highly uniform BV values near
C-face sapphire substrate consisting of 9-μm n− -GaN drift 838 V are obtained as defined at the leakage current of 0.1 A/cm2
layer and a 4-μm n+ -GaN current spreading layer. The 1.9- [4] [see Fig. 2(b)]. As shown in Fig. 2(c), the high BV with low
mm2 device process begins with the formation of selective- VF of the JBS diode in this work has outperformed the quasi-
area p-islands and junction termination extension regions based vertical GaN SBDs on foreign substrates [5], and approached
on magnesium (Mg) ion implantation by a proprietary tech- the values of the vertical GaN-on-GaN SBDs [4], verifying the
nique [19], [20]. For the recovery of the lattice from the ion- effectiveness of JBS structure in enhancing the reverse blocking
implantation induced damage, and the removal of accumulated performances [16].
strain from the excess interstitial and vacancies, 1230 °C high- To evaluate the dynamic switching performances of the fab-
temperature postannealing process with 200-nm SiO2 protective ricated GaN JBS diode, double-pulse-test measurements have
capping layer is conducted [19]. The mesa etching is performed been performed [24]. As shown in Fig. 2(d), under an extreme
after the removal of the SiO2 capping layer. Then, the Schottky switching condition from a high forward current of 10 A to
contact is formed with the Ni/Pt (300 nm/100 nm) stack, which a reverse bias of 600 V with a di/dt of 390 A/μs, the GaN
is followed by the plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition JBS diode exhibits fast reverse recovery performances with the
of a 500-nm SiO2 passivation layer [21]. Contact windows are reverse recovery time (trr ) of ∼11 ns and reverse recovery charge
then opened with dry etching, and the Ti/Al (200 nm/5 μm) (Qrr ) of 3.5 nC, which is in the similar level with that of SiC SBD
stack is deposited to form both the field plate structure at the (C6D10065A, 650 V/10 A), presenting apparently lower switch-
anode region and the ohmic contact on the highly doped n+ -GaN ing loss than Si fast-recovery diode (FRD, RFV8TJ6SGC9, 600
layer. Finally, in order to improve heat dissipation capability, V/8 A). This should be attributed to the high electron mobility
technologies of substrate thinning and packaging have been and large critical electric field of GaN, as well as the relative
implemented [22], obtaining a thinned substrate with the min- immunity to surface-related charge trapping effects in the verti-
imum thickness of 90 μm, which is the thickness limitation in cal structure [24]. These results thus indicate that the diodes are
our experiments without the wafer breakage. By using the high suitable for 600-V/10-A rating power rectifying applications.
thermal conductivity soft solders [23], the diodes are mounted
on a large copper plate, which is then encapsulated in a TO-220 III. RELIABILITY CHARACTERIZATIONS
package with epoxy molding compound.
Fig. 2(a) shows the pulsed forward I–V characteristics of the A. Tests Setup
JBS diode, which exhibits a low forward turn-ON voltage (VF ) of As shown in Fig. 3(a), the investigations on the avalanche
0.5 V as extracted from the linear extrapolation, and a high pulse ruggedness of the diodes are carried out by using the unclamped-
current rectifying level up to 60 A (50-μs pulsewidth and 0.1% inductive-switching (UIS) test setup [13], where the device

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 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 36, NO. 11, NOVEMBER 2021 12165

Fig. 3. DUT is reversely biased in the (a) UIS circuit and forwardly biased in
the (b) surge current circuit. (c) Typical surge current waveform.

under test (DUT) is reversely biased and connected in parallel

with a 1700-V/45-mΩ SiC MOSFET. In the test, the load inductor
(LUIS ) is first charged by the power supply (VCC ) with the ON-
state SiC MOSFET. Once the SiC MOSFET is turned OFF, the energy
stored in LUIS is forced to go through the DUT, driving it into
breakdown state, whereby the BV and current are captured by
the oscilloscope. By controlling a programmable pulse generator
to adjust the ON/OFF state of the SiC MOSFET, the DUT could be
driven into breakdown once-only or consecutively.
Fig. 4. (a) UIS waveforms with LUIS = 1 mH. (b) Summary of the repetitive
Fig. 3(b) shows the test setup for the surge current character- avalanche parameters and waveforms. (c) UIS voltage waveforms at different
izations [14], consisting of the forwardly biased DUT in series temperatures. Inset: Zoomed-in view of the BV. (d) Positive temperature coef-
with the SiC MOSFET and a resonant circuit module consisting ficient extracted from three samples.
of a load inductor (Lsurge ) and a capacitor (Csurge ). When the
SiC MOSFET is turned ON, the resonance circuit can generate a
half-sine surge current pulse to go through the DUT. The typical obtained at LUIS of 1 mH, the JBS diode can sustain over 10 000
surge current waveform is shown in Fig. 3(c), where the peak continuous UIS pulses with a repeating frequency of 1 kHz,
surge current (Ipeak ) and the positive half-period of current pulse exhibiting no measurable degradation in I–V characteristics. For
(Tsurge ) are determined by [25] a lower LUIS of 0.5 mH, similar BV and slightly higher peak
 avalanche current are observed, whereas the avalanche energy
Ipeak = VCC Csurge /Lsurge (1) is reduced to 29 mJ/pulse with a decreased avalanche duration
 of ∼6 μs. Corresponding avalanche ruggedness is evidently
Tsurge = π Csurge Lsurge . (2) enhanced with over 50 000 times repeatable breakdown, reveal-
ing the dominance of avalanche energy in the diodes avalanche
B. Avalanche Ruggedness ruggedness [26].
The DUT is then heated up by ceramic heating sheet and
Fig. 4(a) shows the UIS voltage and current waveforms of the monitored by a thermocouple for the temperature-dependent
JBS diode with LUIS = 1 mH and VCC = 50 V. The DUT voltage UIS tests. As shown in Fig. 4(c), with the temperature rising from
rapidly ramps to avalanche BV (∼965 V) with dV/dt of ∼6 V/ns 25 to 175 °C, the BV increases from 965 to 1026 V. The enhanced
after the SiC MOSFET turns OFF and gets clamped at this value for BV at higher temperature should be a result of the thermally
a duration of 11.4 μs due to the avalanche breakdown, whereas enhanced phonon scattering during the impact ionization [27],
the DUT current gradually drops from 11.2 A to zero. The [28], further verifying the avalanche capability of the fabricated
corresponding avalanche energy, calculated as the power-to-time diode. The positive temperature coefficient as extracted from
integration, is as high as 57.8 mJ. To the best of our knowledge, three identical samples is ∼0.4 V/°C [see Fig. 4(d)], being
this is the first demonstration of avalanche capability in the GaN similar with the previously reported values [29]. It should be
JBS diode, and the sustained avalanche energy is comparable noted that the temperature-dependent UIS tests also present the
with the state-of-the-art GaN-on-GaN PNDs [13]. The demon- reliability of the GaN diodes in up-to-175 °C high-temperature
strated avalanche capability in the GaN JBS diode is ascribed applications.
to the modified peak electric field position from the Schottky
contact interface to the bulk. Otherwise, the high critical electric
field near 3 MV/cm for the onset of avalanche breakdown in C. Surge Current Capability
GaN could induce severe barrier thinning effect in the Schottky In a forward surge transient, the large current flowing through
junction and facilitate tunneling-dominated leakage. the resistive diode can rapidly produce a huge amount of Joule
In addition to single-pulse UIS event, continuously repeated heat [10], and then lead to an abrupt rise of the device temper-
UIS tests have been conducted to gain further insights of the de- ature, which in turn would cause increased Ron and produce
vice ruggedness under avalanche breakdown conditions [9]. As more Joule heat [30]. This positive feedback could generate
presented in Fig. 4(b), with avalanche energy of ∼57.8 mJ/pulse severe heat accumulation effect and form localized hot spots

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 12166 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 36, NO. 11, NOVEMBER 2021

Fig. 5. (a) Surge voltage waveforms of the GaN SBD with 90- and 350-µm
substrate thickness. (b) Corresponding surge I–V curves with Ipeak of 40 A.

inside the device, leading to the final failure [30]. Therefore,

lowering the on-resistance of the diode is directly meaningful for
enhancing the surge current capability. Meanwhile, to maximize
the heat dissipation effect and to improve the surge capability, the
sapphire substrate is herein thinned to ∼90 μm [22], whereas
control sample with normal substrate thickness of ∼350 μm
is also fabricated with the same TO-220 package. Fig. 5(a) Fig. 6. (a) Ipeak - and (b) Emax -SOA. (c) Typical failure waveforms during
surge stress. (d) Failure profile in GaN SBD with Tsurge of 0.1 and 10 ms.
presents the surge voltage waveforms of the diodes with different
substrate thickness at Tsurge of 10 ms. In both devices, the surge
voltage is observed to increase with elevated Ipeak . But, the carried out to identify the failure position [see Fig. 6(d)]. The
device with 90-μm substrate thickness can withstand a higher initial failure spot locates at the sidewall of the multifinger
Ipeak of 65 A, as compared to 48 A of the control sample. anode electrode with Tsurge of 0.1 ms, and spreads to the whole
When comparing the surge I–V curves with an identical Ipeak anode region with Tsurge increased to 10 ms, resulting in the
of 40 A, both diodes show similar variation trend, including catastrophic thermal destruction. Accordingly, heat accumula-
the ascending and descending parts [see Fig. 5(b)], where the tion effect during the surge event that elevates the p–n junction
current dispersion between the two parts should be a result of temperature underneath the anode edge to the melting temper-
heat accumulation effect during the surge event, which then leads ature of aluminum pad is considered as the root of the device
to the rise of conduction resistance. Moreover, it is found that failure [31], revealing the significance of thermal management
the device with 90-μm-thickness substrate exhibits apparently in the sapphire-based GaN JBS diodes.
smaller peak voltage (10.8 V), indicating the alleviated rise
in Ron . IV. CONCLUSION
By adjusting Lsurge or Csurge , the current surging perfor-
mance at different Tsurge can be obtained based on (2). Also, In this letter, based on the Mg-ion implanted termination
the maximum energy (Emax ) dissipation of the devices can technology, selective p-type islands underneath the Schottky
be calculated based on the power-to-time integration. Corre- contact of the GaN JBS diode are demonstrated. Correspond-
spondingly, Tsurge -dependent Ipeak and Emax SOA are plotted ingly, the diode achieves excellent performances in both static
in Fig. 6(a) and (b), respectively. With an increased surging and dynamic characterizations, especially the 600-V/10-A recti-
duration, Ipeak decreases but still generate an enhanced surging fying capability. More importantly, after implementing the high-
energy, being increased from 0.1 to 6.0 J at Tsurge of 0.1 and performance diodes into the inductive load circuits, high tran-
10 ms, respectively. Meanwhile, the JBS diodes with 90-μm sient immunity is observed incorporating both robust avalanche
substrate thickness show a broader current/energy SOA than breakdown capacity and surge current tolerance, obtaining a
that of the control samples, especially at higher Tsurge where the large SOA for the fabricated GaN diode. These results thus
energy difference reaches ∼3.0 J. These results clearly present present the large potentials of the sapphire-based quasi-vertical
the effectiveness of substrate thinning of sapphire in obtaining GaN JBS diodes in high-efficiency, high-power, and highly
lower Ron degradation and higher current surging capability by reliable power applications.
facilitating the heat dissipation.
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