Radiation hardness of WBG semiconductors to be tested

Penn State University has been awarded a grant to lead a Department of Defense study of the radiation hardness of wide-bandgap semiconductors, such as gallium nitride.

Materials such as GaN are being used increasingly in power semiconductor and RF applications. The United States Department of Defense wants to be able to predict and mitigate the damage caused to wide-bandgap semiconductors by radiation. It has awarded a team a five-year, $7.5 million grant to conduct a detailed study of the topic.

“宽带隙半导体，例如氮化镓，在射频和电力电子器件中的优点显示了硅。由于原子债券强大，它们也是对辐射的固有的抗性，“佩恩州的电气工程副教授荣明楚表示，该项目将被刺激该项目。

“Preliminary studies have indicated that the radiation resistance appears to be limited by defects in the semiconductors, rather than by the material’s intrinsic properties,” Chu said. “In this project, we seek to understand the radiation effects of these defects so that we may develop a strategy to redesign the wide bandgap semiconductor device for the ultimate radiation hardness.”

Defects

Typical defects are unwanted impurities, dislocation faults of the crystalline structure and dangling bonds at the interface between materials.

“There is a risk of these defects becoming electrically active under a high electric field, with energetic electrons, causing detrimental effects to device performance,” Chu said.