Simulation Study of Single-Event Burnout in GaN MISFET With Schottky Element

In this article, we investigate a new hardened GaN MISFET with an integrated Schottky contact (SC-MISFET). The new device architecture significantly improves the single-event burnout (SEB) characteristics. Compared to the field plate conventional GaN MISFET (FPC-MISFET), the Schottky metal can extract a larger number of holes, which are generated by heavy-ion irradiation. In addition, the number of carriers involved in the impact ionization process is substantially reduced. These features enable the new hardened structure to achieve a better overall SEB characteristic. After heavy-ion irradiation, the SEB threshold voltages of devices with conventional and hardened structures are 520 and 710 V, respectively.