A Novel Embedded p-GaN Resistor Design in p-GaN Gate AlGaN/GaN High-Electron-Mobility Transistors for Enhanced Performance

This paper proposes a novel structure to enhance the performance of E-mode Schottky p-GaN gate AlGaN/GaN high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs) by integrating an embedded p-GaN resistor. Formed from the same p-GaN epitaxial layer and directly connected to the source, this resistor provides a current path that stabilizes gate operation. The proposed AlGaN/GaN HEMT structure is compared with conventional p-GaN gate devices. Fabricated on the same epitaxial wafer, the new design achieves an increased threshold voltage (from 1.3 to 1.7 V) without degrading on-resistance or breakdown characteristics. Furthermore, the reverse conduction loss under negative gate bias is significantly reduced. Dynamic R_ON measurements under off-state drain bias stress show improved stability in the proposed device, indicating suppression of current collapse. The embedded p-GaN resistor also enhances gate stability by alleviating the high electric field in the Schottky gate region and addressing the floating effect of the p-GaN layer. Importantly, time-to-failure extrapolation indicates a projected 10 y lifetime at ≈5.5 V gate bias (63.2% failure probability), representing a ≈0.5 V improvement compared with the conventional device.