Study of InxGa1-xN/GaN Homotype Heterojunction IMPATT Diodes

In this work, a novel n-InxGa1-xN/N-gallium nitride (GaN) homotype heterostructure is proposed instead of P-GaN/N-GaN homostructure to produce impact-ionization-avalanche-transit-time (IMPATT) diode. Conventional GaN IMPATT device will lose its working ability due to the immature p-type GaN, so this work predicts that the n-InxGa1-x N/N-GaN IMPATT diode can be an alternative to the GaN p-n IMPATT diode; thus, the difficulty of the p-type doping process is avoided. The dc and RF large-signal output characteristics with different compositions are investigated in detail. The simulation results show that the power and efficiency of the novel structure device increase when the In composition increases. When the In composition is greater than 0.4, the performance of the homotype heterojunction IMPATT is better than that of p-n IMPATT. Moreover, homotype heterojunction IMPATT is better in frequency bandwidth, and it can hold greater bias current density than p-n IMPATT. Meanwhile, the performance of homotype heterojunction IMPATT does not depend on the thickness of the InGaN layer, but it decreases as the thickness of the p-type region in p-n IMPATT increases. As it has greater potential in the application, this work brings a reference for the design and manufacture of IMPATT devices based on wide bandgap semiconductor materials, especially GaN materials.

Automated summary

A novel n-InxGa1-xN/N-GaN homotype heterostructure IMPATT diode is proposed as an alternative to the GaN p-n IMPATT diode. The performance of the homotype heterojunction IMPATT improves as the In composition increases, with better frequency bandwidth and ability to withstand bias current density compared to p-n IMPATT.