- Research Article
- 10.1109/ted.2025.3640140
The Load-Dump Stress-Induced Degradation of p-GaN HEMT Under Different Gate Biases
- Jan 01, 2026
- IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices
- Yijun Shi + 7 more +7
This work first reveals the robustness and degradation mechanisms of a 200-V p-GaN high-electron-mobility transistor (HEMT) under the load-dump stress with the gate biased at different conditions. The gate conditions involved in this work include the <sc xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">off</small>-state (<inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${V}_{\text {GS}} =0$</tex-math> </inline-formula> V), semi-<sc xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">on</small>-state (<inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${V}_{\text {GS}} =1.6$</tex-math> </inline-formula> V), and <sc xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">on</small>-state (<inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${V}_{\text {GS}} =6$</tex-math> </inline-formula> V). The experimental results indicate that the device has the weakest tolerance to the load-dump stress in the semi-<sc xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">on</small>-state compared with the <sc xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">off</small>- and <sc xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">on</small>-states. Specifically, in the semi-<sc xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">on</small>-state, the device immediately failed when the load-dump stress was increased to 100 V. While under the other two conditions, the device still works even when the load-dump stress was increased to 150 V. This phenomenon is closely related to the high local current concentration phenomenon, companying with the high electric field peak at the gate region for the device in the semi-<sc xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">on</small>-state. In addition, the devices’ threshold voltage (<inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${V}_{\text {TH}}\text {)}$</tex-math> </inline-formula> and drain current (<inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${I}_{\text {DS}}\text {)}$</tex-math> </inline-formula> show different drift degrees after applying the load-dump stress under different gate biases. Among them, it is worth noting that the device exhibits the most significant degradation phenomenon after the load-dump stress is applied in the semi-<sc xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">on</small>-state.
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