High power density gallium nitride radio frequency transistors via enhanced nucleation in heteroepitaxy

Gallium-nitride high-electron-mobility-transistor is an industrial leading contender for high-frequency and high-power radio-frequency applications. However, the record output-power-density has remained stagnant for nearly two decades, limited by high thermal-resistances at the nucleation layer-substrate interface and thick nitride layers. Here, we propose induced nucleation by implementing ion-implantation on silicon-carbide substrate to create nano- to microscale surface nucleation-sites. This approach suppresses conventional island-like nucleation, enabling rapid film coalescence and aggressive reduction in buffer layer thickness while maintaining low dislocation density. Therefore, a low thermal-resistance of 3.9 m²K/GW for the entire epitaxial stack is achieved, three times lower than previous reports in various high-electron-mobility-transistor epi-structures. Gallium-nitride transistors demonstrate a record Johnson's Figure-of-Merit of 20.6 THz·V, an output-power-density of 42/20 W/mm at 8/30 GHz, representing a 30%/43% improvement over prior highest output-power-density for all X-/Ka-band transistors, respectively. This result manifests the implantation-induced nucleation strategy as a promising approach for advancing Gallium-nitride heteroepitaxy for RF electronics.

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Publication Details

Journal
Nature Communications
Published
2025-12-18
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-67248-9
Citations
1
Primary Topic
GaN-based semiconductor devices and materials
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
1.26

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High power density gallium nitride radio frequency transistors via enhanced nucleation in heteroepitaxy

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Nature Communications
GaN-based semiconductor devices and materials
1.26
article

High power density gallium nitride radio frequency transistors via enhanced nucleation in heteroepitaxy

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article en
1 citations

Abstract

Gallium-nitride high-electron-mobility-transistor is an industrial leading contender for high-frequency and high-power radio-frequency applications. However, the record output-power-density has remained stagnant for nearly two decades, limited by high thermal-resistances at the nucleation layer-substrate interface and thick nitride layers. Here, we propose induced nucleation by implementing ion-implantation on silicon-carbide substrate to create nano- to microscale surface nucleation-sites. This approach suppresses conventional island-like nucleation, enabling rapid film coalescence and aggressive reduction in buffer layer thickness while maintaining low dislocation density. Therefore, a low thermal-resistance of 3.9 m²K/GW for the entire epitaxial stack is achieved, three times lower than previous reports in various high-electron-mobility-transistor epi-structures. Gallium-nitride transistors demonstrate a record Johnson's Figure-of-Merit of 20.6 THz·V, an output-power-density of 42/20 W/mm at 8/30 GHz, representing a 30%/43% improvement over prior highest output-power-density for all X-/Ka-band transistors, respectively. This result manifests the implantation-induced nucleation strategy as a promising approach for advancing Gallium-nitride heteroepitaxy for RF electronics.

Nature CommunicationsVol. 17(1)
Xidian University (CN), Peking University (CN), Nanjing Institute of Technology (CN), Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits (DE), HKU-Pasteur Research Pole (HK), University of Hong Kong (HK)
National Natural Science Foundation of China, Xidian University, National Key Research and Development Program of China
Openalex Percentile: Top 15%
GaN-based semiconductor devices and materials
1.26
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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