Counter-Doped Multizone Junction Termination Extension Structures in Vertical GaN Diodes

GaN is an attractive wide bandgap semiconductor for power applications, owing to its superior electrical properties, such as high critical electric field and saturation drift velocity. Recent advancements in developing native GaN substrates has drawn attention toward exploring vertical GaN power diodes with high breakdown voltages (V_BR). In practice, effective edge terminations techniques, such as junction termination extension (JTE) structures, play a crucial role in realizing high-voltage devices. Though certain challenges in fabricating GaN diodes, such as difficulty in forming p-type region, makes it difficult to realize edge termination, hence impeding the development and adoption of such devices. This paper aims to address these challenges by presenting the design and methodology of forming multi-zone, counter-doped JTE structures in vertical GaN diodes, which attains close to theoretical breakdown voltage for a wide range of tolerance in implant dose variation. Extensive device simulations using experimental data and including the effects of surface charges and implant profiles, are performed to present realistic results. The results suggest that >80% of ideal V_BR is achievable for a wide range of doping concentration ( 2.4× 10¹⁷ cm^-3 ) with a maximum V_BR reaching 96% of the ideal value. This paper serves as the first step toward leveraging the current challenges in the fabrication of GaN diodes, by proposing optimum design techniques for realizing vertical GaN diodes with high breakdown voltages.