Raw Power: Buffers Boost GaN Device Capacity

Gallium nitride (GaN) devices are supposed to be the next big thing in power electronics (think electric cars or smart grid). Or they would be, if they didn’t keep breaking when exposed to high voltages. New research may have solved that problem by implanting buffers made of argon that allow the devices to handle ten times as much power.

To date, diodes made of GaN generally break when exposed to 250 volts. That’s a threshold problem. If a power device can’t handle much power, what good is it? Specifically, the problem with GaN devices was that high voltages created electric fields at specific points on the edge of the devices. Those fields broke the devices.

But a research team from NC State, led by Jay Baliga, has come up with a solution. By implanting argon at the edges of the GaN devices, the team was able to create a GaN diode that could handle over 1,600 volts. The argon serves as a buffer, preventing the electric field from concentrating at one point and breaking the device. The research is being published in a future issue of Electron Device Letters.

This advance decreases the electrical resistance of the GaN devices by 10,000 percent(!) – which means the devices can handle ten times as much power.

If you’re like me, and don’t fully understand how electricity works, here’s a primer. But the basic point is this: we can now make electronic devices, for use in cool stuff like electric cars, that can handle more raw power.