Impact of doping and geometry on breakdown voltage of semi-vertical GaN-on-Si MOS capacitors

For the development of reliable vertical GaN transistors, a detailed analysis of the robustness of the gate stack is necessary, as a function of the process parameters and material properties. To this aim, we report a detailed analysis of breakdown performance of planar GaN-on-Si MOS capacitors. The analysis is carried out on capacitors processed on different GaN bulk doping (6E18 Si/cc, 6E17 Si/cc and 2.5E18 Mg/cc, p-type), different structures (planar, trench-like) and different geometries (area, perimeter and shape). We demonstrate that (i) capacitors on p-GaN have better breakdown performance; (ii) the presence of a trench structure significantly reduces break-down capabilities; (iii) breakdown voltage is dependent on area, with a decreasing robustness for increasing dimensions; (iv) breakdown voltage is independent of shape (rectangular, circular). TCAD simulations, in agreement with the measurements, illustrate the electric field distribution near breakdown and clarify the results obtained experimentally.