Breakdown Electric Field of GaN p+-n and p-n+ Junction Diodes with Various Doping Concentrations

Breakdown characteristics in homoepitaxial GaN p-n junction diodes with p+-n and p-n+ junctions with relatively heavy doping concentrations are systematically investigated. The devices have vertical deep mesa etch termination, which enables uniform (nearly ideal) avalanche breakdown without electric field (E-field) crowding at the device edge. For p+-n junction, breakdown E-field of 3.0, 3.3 and 3.8 MV/cm and breakdown voltage (BV) of 340, 207 and 128 V were achieved at the donor concentrations of 7.5×1016, 1.5×1017, 3.1×1017 cm-3, respectively. For p-n+ junction, breakdown E-field of 3.2, 3.3 and 4.0 MV/cm and BV of 235, 180 and 110 V were achieved at the acceptor concentrations of 1.3×1017, 1.8×1017, 4.1×1017 cm-3, respectively. No significant difference of the breakdown characteristics between n-type and p-type voltage-blocking layers was observed. These results are consistent with numerical simulations using impact ionization coefficients (IICs) in GaN reported in our previous studies.