Aris Christou discusses GaN device reliability solutions at ASU

Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) Professor Aris Christou recently participated in the 2019 Lawrence Workshop on Solid-state Technology at Arizona State University. Christou presented Control of Surfaces and Interfaces for Enhanced Performance and Reliability of Wide Bandgap Semiconductor Devices and Systems.

During his presentation, Prof. Christou discussed an approach to achieving wide bandgap semiconductor (GaN) based high voltage “vertical” switches. The research presented will be used to establish a fabrication approach based on material/heterostructure optimization and defect-surface-interface characterization. Power electronics - and more specifically, power electronics devices - could change the way we utilize and control energy. The GaN and the related ternaries, AlGaN and InGaN, are often materials of choice due to their superior properties.

While the performance of the current generation of GaN devices is limited by material and reliability issues, the promise still remains an elusive goal. The results Christou reported in his research may resolve the issues of performance and reliability for future GaN and related compound power devices, and enable the development a new class of devices based on V-HEMTS and Trench HFETs to exceed the state of the art of 2.5 kV for silicon and SiC devices for blocking voltages up to as high as 20 kV.

Published February 26, 2019