Hard- and soft-breakdown modeling in <001> oriented β-Ga2O3 Schottky barrier diode

Gallium oxide (Ga2O3) attracts considerable technological interest because of its high Baliga’s figure-of-merit and high breakdown voltages. As the models for the breakdown behavior of n-doped Ga2O3 that consider soft (barrier lowering) and hard (avalanche effect) breakdowns are still lacking, in this study, we model the breakdown operations in <001> oriented Schottky barrier diodes considering both the soft- and hard-breakdown phenomena. The completion of the impact ionization model of β-Ga2O3 in <001> orientation is proposed by determining the hole impact ionization coefficient, thereby reproducing hard breakdown operations. Moreover, a barrier lowering model is determined for reproducing soft breakdown operations. The outcomes of the proposed modeling investigation are expected to be crucial for predicting the reverse-biased operations of β-Ga2O3 in <001> orientation to facilitate further technological development and applications of Ga2O3.