Overcoming the limitations of gallium oxide through heterogeneous integration
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nuary 2021 Vol. 64 No. 1: 217331 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11433-020-1596-5
Overcoming the limitations of gallium oxide through heterogeneous integration 1*
2
Yuhao Zhang , and Kevin J. Chen 1
2
Center for Power Electronics Systems, Virginia Polytechnic and State University, Blacksburg VA 24060, USA; Departmnet of Electronic and Computer Engineering, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Hong Kong, China Received May 19, 2020; accepted June 22, 2020; published online August 21, 2020
Citation:
Y. Zhang, and K. J. Chen, Overcoming the limitations of gallium oxide through heterogeneous integration, Sci. China-Phys. Mech. Astron. 64, 217331 (2021), https://doi.org/10.1007/s11433-020-1596-5
Power electronics, processing over 50% of world’s electric energy, enables very efficient electric energy conversion for a wide range of applications such as electric vehicles, data centers, autonomous driving, robotics and smart grids. The availability of low-cost, efficient, and reliable power semiconductor devices that can conduct high current, block high voltage, and switch at high frequencies are key to improving the performance of power electronics systems. While most of today’s power devices are made of silicon (Si), the power devices based on semiconductors possessing a wider bandgap than Si, such as silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN), have enabled numerous applications beyond the capabilities of Si. After three decades of relentless development, SiC and GaN devices have been commercialized. For example, high-performance, low-cost GaNon-Si device technologies have allowed a significant boost in power conversion efficiency and a reduction in system form factors [1], emerging vertical GaN-on-Si devices are also under development [2]. On the horizon is a new generation of semiconductors possessing even larger bandgaps than GaN and SiC, i.e., the ultra-wide bandgap (UWBG) semiconductors. The major UWBG semiconductors include gallium oxide (Ga2O3), aluminum nitride (AlN), and diamond. Power devices based on these materials promise higher theoretical performance than their Si, SiC, and GaN counterparts. Among various *Corresponding author (email: [email protected])
UWBG semiconductors, Ga2O3 is particularly promising owing to its controllable doping and the availability of large diameter wafers [3]. Ga2O3 devices have demonstrated high performance up to kilovolts classes. Despite the initial success of Ga2O3 devices, they are faced with two fundamental material limitations. First, Ga2O3 has very low thermal conductivity (1/6 of Si, 1/10 of GaN, and 1/20 of SiC), which limits its heat dissipation and power handing capabilities. Second, there still lacks shallow acceptors for efficient p-doping in Ga2O3. The absence of Ga2O3 PN junctions hinders the adoption of many advanced voltage-blocking structures for the development of highvoltage power devices. Two recent papers [4,5] published in Science China Physics, Mechanics & Astronomy have showed good promise to overcome the above challenges through heteroge
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