Challenges, Innovation and Future Perspectives of GaN Technology

A special issue of Electronics (ISSN 2079-9292). This special issue belongs to the section "Semiconductor Devices".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 October 2024 | Viewed by 1134

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
Interests: semiconductor devices; 5G and 6G communication system; RF technology; wireless power transfer

Special Issue Information

Deae Colleagues,

GaN devices and applications constitute viable technologies but have also undergone a process of being productized in over the past decade. The superior qualities of GaN technology include high efficiency, fast switching speed, dense physical size, and high tolerance to very high- and low-temperature operations. GaN technology is not only gaining traction in power and RF electronics but is also rapidly expanding into other applications such as radar, space, digital and quantum computing electronics. In power electronics, GaN devices are greatly desirable for use to explore both higher-voltage and ultra-low-voltage power applications. Moving into the RF and audio engineering domains, GaN devices have uses in the implementation of AI-assisted and digitized power amplifier circuits, and further advances are expected using the hardware–software co-design approach. There are also increasing needs for higher integration technology of GaN devices and of other technology like silicon. High-performance p-type GaN technology will be crucial to the realization of high-performance GaN CMOS circuits. Finally, given the increasing cost of hardware prototyping of new devices and circuits, the use of high-fidelity device models and AI- and data-driven modeling approaches for technology-circuit co-design are projected to be the design trends of the future.

This Special Issue is aimed at addressing some of the above challenges. This includes but not limited to:

  • Next-generation GaN device architecture with or without new material;
  • Good linearity GaN devices;
  • High power density GaN devices;
  • Ultra-high switching speed GaN devices;
  • Terahertz and sub-terahertz GaN devices;
  • Ultra-high bandwidth GaN power amplifier;
  • AI-assisted GaN fault detection and mitigation;
  • AI-assisted and model-based GaN design;
  • Device modeling for performance and reliability study;
  • AI-assisted GaN RF amplifier for next-level performance;
  • Digital GaN power amplifier for audio applications;
  • Low-voltage GaN DC to DC converter;
  • GaN integration technology including CMOS, logical gates, etc.;
  • GaN technology integration with other technologies such as silicon and others;
  • GaN in quantum electronics;
  • GaN in space applications;
  • GaN fabrication challenges and improvement;
  • GaN manufacturing challenges and improvement;
  • Ultra-high speed digital GaN;
  • GaN for 5G and 6G communication networks;
  • GaN CMOS;
  • Next-generation array for radar.

Dr. Koon Hoo Teo
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • GaN
  • wide-bandgap devices
  • AI-assisted design
  • AI-assisted operation
  • fast switching devices
  • power amplifier
  • terahertz
  • device linearity
  • device power density, GaN integration technology
  • low-voltage DC converter
  • digital power amplifier
  • audio amplifier
  • quantum electronics
  • space electronics
  • hybrid GaN/Si integration
  • GaN CMOS
  • GaN arrays

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

10 pages, 2438 KiB  
Communication
Investigation of the Effect of Different SiNx Thicknesses on the Characteristics of AlGaN/GaN High-Electron-Mobility Transistors in Ka-Band
by Che-Wei Hsu, Yueh-Chin Lin, Ming-Wen Lee and Edward-Yi Chang
Electronics 2023, 12(20), 4336; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/electronics12204336 - 19 Oct 2023
Viewed by 827
Abstract
The effect of different SiNx thicknesses on the performance of AlGaN/GaN high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs) was investigated in this paper. The current, transconductance (Gm), cut-off frequency (fT), maximum oscillation frequency (fmax), power performance, and output third-order intercept [...] Read more.
The effect of different SiNx thicknesses on the performance of AlGaN/GaN high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs) was investigated in this paper. The current, transconductance (Gm), cut-off frequency (fT), maximum oscillation frequency (fmax), power performance, and output third-order intercept point (OIP3) of devices with three different SiNx thicknesses (150 nm, 200 nm, and 250 nm) were measured and analyzed. The DC measurements revealed an increase in both the drain-source current (IDS) and Gm values of the device with increasing SiNx thickness. The S-parameter measurement results show that devices with a higher SiNx thickness exhibit improved fT and fmax. Regarding power performance, thicker SiNx devices also improve the output power density (Pout) and power-added efficiency (PAE) in the Ka-band. In addition, the two-tone measurement results at 28 GHz show that the OIP3 increased from 35.60 dBm to 40.87 dBm as the SiNx thickness increased from 150 nm to 250 nm. The device’s characteristics improved by appropriately increasing the SiNx thickness. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Challenges, Innovation and Future Perspectives of GaN Technology)
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