A Novel Bidirectional AlGaN/GaN ESD Protection Diode

Yao, Bin; Shi, Yijun; Wang, Hongyue; Xu, Xinbin; Chen, Yiqiang; He, Zhiyuan; Xiao, Qingzhong; Wang, Lei; Lu, Guoguang; Li, Hao; Huang, Yun; Zhang, Bo

doi:10.3390/mi13010135

Open AccessArticle

A Novel Bidirectional AlGaN/GaN ESD Protection Diode

by

Bin Yao

^1,2,

Yijun Shi

^2,*

,

Hongyue Wang

²,

Xinbin Xu

²,

Yiqiang Chen

^2,*

,

Zhiyuan He

²,

Qingzhong Xiao

²,

Lei Wang

²,

Guoguang Lu

²,

Hao Li

¹,

Yun Huang

² and

Bo Zhang

²

¹

School of Electrical and Information Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, China

²

The Science and Technology on Reliability Physics and Application of Electronic Component Laboratory, China Electronic, Product Reliability and Environmental Testing Research Institute, Guangzhou 510610, China

^*

Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Micromachines 2022, 13(1), 135; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi13010135

Submission received: 30 November 2021 / Revised: 10 January 2022 / Accepted: 13 January 2022 / Published: 15 January 2022

(This article belongs to the Special Issue GaN-Based Semiconductor Devices)

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Abstract

Despite the superior working properties, GaN-based HEMTs and systems are still confronted with the threat of a transient ESD event, especially for the vulnerable gate structure of the p-GaN or MOS HEMTs. Therefore, there is still an urgent need for a bidirectional ESD protection diode to improve the ESD robustness of a GaN power system. In this study, an AlGaN/GaN ESD protection diode with bidirectional clamp capability was proposed and investigated. Through the combination of two floating gate electrodes and two pF-grade capacitors connected in parallel between anode or cathode electrodes and the adjacent floating gate electrodes (C_GA (C_GC)), the proposed diode could be triggered by a required voltage and possesses a high secondary breakdown current (I_S) in both forward and reverse transient ESD events. Based on the experimental verification, it was found that the bidirectional triggering voltages (V_trig) and I_S of the proposed diode were strongly related to C_GA (C_GC). With C_GA (C_GC) increasing from 5 pF to 25 pF, V_trig and I_S decreased from ~18 V to ~7 V and from ~7 A to ~3 A, respectively. The diode’s high performance demonstrated a good reference for the ESD design of a GaN power system.

Keywords: electrostatic discharge; ESD protection diode; GaN HEMT; transmission line pulsing

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MDPI and ACS Style

Yao, B.; Shi, Y.; Wang, H.; Xu, X.; Chen, Y.; He, Z.; Xiao, Q.; Wang, L.; Lu, G.; Li, H.; et al. A Novel Bidirectional AlGaN/GaN ESD Protection Diode. Micromachines 2022, 13, 135. https://doi.org/10.3390/mi13010135

AMA Style

Yao B, Shi Y, Wang H, Xu X, Chen Y, He Z, Xiao Q, Wang L, Lu G, Li H, et al. A Novel Bidirectional AlGaN/GaN ESD Protection Diode. Micromachines. 2022; 13(1):135. https://doi.org/10.3390/mi13010135

Chicago/Turabian Style

Yao, Bin, Yijun Shi, Hongyue Wang, Xinbin Xu, Yiqiang Chen, Zhiyuan He, Qingzhong Xiao, Lei Wang, Guoguang Lu, Hao Li, and et al. 2022. "A Novel Bidirectional AlGaN/GaN ESD Protection Diode" Micromachines 13, no. 1: 135. https://doi.org/10.3390/mi13010135

APA Style

Yao, B., Shi, Y., Wang, H., Xu, X., Chen, Y., He, Z., Xiao, Q., Wang, L., Lu, G., Li, H., Huang, Y., & Zhang, B. (2022). A Novel Bidirectional AlGaN/GaN ESD Protection Diode. Micromachines, 13(1), 135. https://doi.org/10.3390/mi13010135

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A Novel Bidirectional AlGaN/GaN ESD Protection Diode

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