极端电热耦合应力场景下氮化镓功率晶体管可靠性研究进展

Research progress on reliability of GaN power transistors under extreme electrothermal coupled stress

摘要

氮化镓（GaN）功率高电子迁移率晶体管（HEMT）凭借其宽禁带、高电子迁移率和高临界击穿电场等优异材料特性，在消费电子快充、机器人、AI 算力供电、新能源汽车及宇航等高频高效功率转换领域展现出广阔的应用前景。然而，随着应用场景向高功率密度、高温及强电磁干扰等严苛环境拓展，器件面临的浪涌电压、短路、浪涌电流及高温、高压偏置等极端电热耦合应力对其可靠性构成严峻挑战，成为其大规模工业部署的核心瓶颈。该文围绕上述场景中电热耦合应力下 GaN HEMT 功率晶体管面临的可靠性挑战，重点探讨了面向动态应力场景的高速高精度表征平台与方法，包括动态导通电阻、阈值电压等关键参数的原位在线监测技术；在此基础上，深入分析了器件在电热耦合应力下的退化规律与失效机制，阐明了逆压电效应、碰撞电离、电荷注入及陷阱俘获与释放等关键因素对退化失效行为的影响机制；针对导致器件退化与失效的不同物理机制，进一步提出电场调控、电荷补偿等器件稳定性与可靠性加固技术。

Abstract

Gallium nitride (GaN) power high electron mobility transistors (HEMT), benefiting from their excellent material properties such as wide bandgap, high electron mobility, and high critical breakdown electric field, have shown broad application prospects in high-frequency and high-efficiency power conversion fields including fast charging for consumer electronics, robotics, AI computing power supplies, new energy vehicles, and aerospace. However, as application scenarios extend to harsh environments with high power density, high temperature, and strong electromagnetic interference, devices are subjected to extreme electro thermal coupled stresses such as surge voltage, short circuit, surge current, high temperature, and high-voltage bias, which pose severe challenges to their reliability and have become a core bottleneck restricting their large-scale industrial deployment. This paper focuses on the reliability challenges of GaN HEMT power transistors under electro thermal coupled stresses in the aforementioned scenarios. It highlights high-speed and high-precision characterization platforms and methods for dynamic stress scenarios, including in-situ online monitoring techniques for key parameters such as dynamic on-resistance and threshold voltage. On this basis, the degradation behaviors and failure mechanisms of devices under electro thermal coupled stresses are systematically analyzed, and the influence mechanisms of key factors such as the inverse piezoelectric effect, impact ionization, charge injection, and trap capture and emission on degradation and failure behaviors are elucidated. Targeting the different physical mechanisms responsible for device degradation and failure, device stability and reliability reinforcement techniques including electric field modulation and charge compensation are further proposed.

关键词

氮化镓 / 高电子迁移率晶体管 / 极端应力可靠性 / 浪涌电压 / 短路 / 浪涌电流 / 退化机理 / 加固技术

Key words

GaN / HEMT / extreme stress reliability / surge voltage / short-circuit / surge current / degradation mechanism / hardening technique

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基金资助

国家自然科学基金(62504034)

四川省区域联合基金(2026YFHZ0138)

广东省基础与应用基础研究项目(2024A1515012139)

中国博士后科学基金(2026T190139, 2025M770575)