Our mission
We are a research group dedicated to advancing the state-of-the-art of commercial gallium nitride (GaN) power electronics. Our mission is to develop high-performance, radiation-hardened, and ultra-high-voltage GaN devices that enable next-generation applications in power grids, electric vehicles, telecommunications, and extreme environments.
GaN Super-Heterojunction Power Switches
Today’s GaN power switches are competing with other wide band gap (WBG) semiconductor devices (SiC MOSFET, Ga2O3 transistors, etc ) in the >650V market. One major challenge limiting GaN’s penetration into this high-voltage domain is the high cost associated with GaN substrates required for vertical GaN-on-GaN devices. Our group develops GaN super-heterojunction (SHJ) lateral device structure on sapphire/SiC substrate, extending the voltage handling up to 10 kV while maintaining excellent scalability and cost-effectiveness! We are actively exploring additional novel GaN device structures based on the super-heterojunction concept to further enhance performance and expand the potential applications of GaN-based power electronics.
Radiation Effects of GaN Electronics
GaN electronics are expected to play a key role in supporting space missions. It is therefore important to understand and predict the radiation effects of GaN electronics. We are a part of a Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) team (https://sites.psu.edu/redesign/), pursuing a holistic understanding of radiation effects in GaN electronic devices at the electronic, atomic, and device levels.
GaN Devices & ICs for High Temperature
High-temperature electronics are highly desirable in various demanding situations, such as geothermal drilling (200-350 °C), turbine engines (>500 °C), space mission (>450 °C), and automotive exhaust, combustion systems and advanced aerospace (>850 °C). However, conventional silicon-based electronics suffer from intrinsic carrier generation at elevated temperatures, leading to performance degradation and loss of control. GaN, with its wide bandgap, is a promising material to overcome these limitations and enable reliable operation at high temperatures. Our group has successfully designed and fabricated GaN HEMTs that demonstrate excellent performance at temperatures up to 800 °C, and the process is successful in wafer-scale. Many exciting research questions remain to be explored, and we are actively investigating new directions. Our ultimate goal is to develop mature fabrication processes and reliable GaN ICs capable of sustained operation above 800 °C.
Integrated GaN Power Electronics
Speed of today’s GaN power switches is largely limited by parasitics between discretely packaged components. Our group is exploring chip-scale integration of power switch, gate driver, and optocoupler, unleashing the full potential of GaN’s fast-switching capability.
Sponsors
