1.7-kV Vertical GaN-on-GaN Schottky Barrier Diodes With Helium-Implanted Edge Termination

In this article, high-performance vertical gallium nitride (GaN)-on-GaN Schottky barrier diodes (SBDs) with helium (He)-implanted edge termination (ET) structure were demonstrated for the first time. Owing to the feature of He-implanted ET structure, the peak electric field crowding effect underneath the Schottky contact metal edge has been significantly reduced, thus increasing the breakdown voltage
${V}_{{\mathrm {BR}}}$
of the diodes. Under the same testing conditions,
${V}_{{\mathrm {BR}}}$
was increased from 862 to 1725 V for the devices with He-implanted ET structure, which also have low specific differential ON-resistance
${R}_{{\scriptscriptstyle {\mathrm {ON}}}}$
of 5.1
$\text{m}\Omega \cdot {\mathrm {cm}}^{2}$
and low turn-on voltage
${V}_{{\scriptscriptstyle {\mathrm {ON}}}}$
of 0.63 V. Given
${V}_{{\scriptscriptstyle {\mathrm {ON}}}}$
of < 0.7 V, the vertical GaN SBDs with He-implanted ET structure show the highest
${V}_{{\mathrm {BR}}}$
in the reported work up to today.