Characterization and modeling protocol for GaN-on-Si power transistors

Designing a monolithic circuit around a GaN/Si High electron mobility power transistor requires accurate characterization and device modeling. The characterization aims to provide adequate parameters to the transistor model. In particular, the characterization protocol presented in this paper enables to capture a wide range of current, from very low currents (a few hundred picoamperes to a few nanoamperes) when the transistor is off (sub-threshold), to high currents (several hundred milliamperes to a few amperes) when the transistor is on. A special care is given to detecting any drift in the component characteristics which may be caused by the characterization step. A modeling procedure is also presented, to build a SPICE parametric model of the transistor. An $R^{2}$ criterion is used to validate the resulting models.