1200-V Dual-Gate p-GaN Bidirectional Switches on 200-mm Engineered Substrates

In this article, we present dual-gate bidirectional switches (BDSs) rated for 1200-V operation in both positive and negative biases, fabricated on 200-mm GaN-on-QST¹ engineered substrates. The switches are p-GaN gate enhancement-mode (E-mode) high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs) that can conduct the current and block the voltage in both directions (drain to source or source to drain). The switches are fabricated with different design variations in the channel length and field-plates (FPs) configuration and are tested in all four conduction modes (on-state, forward and reverse diode modes, and off-state). In addition, a hard breakdown of the device well above the rated voltage is demonstrated, along with initial reliability tests that demonstrate promising performance of the devices.