Beta gallium oxide eyed for next-gen power electronics
A research team from Purdue University (Lafayette, IN) has reported on the performance characteristics of a field effect transistor (FET) made in a thin film of beta gallium oxide on insulator (GOOI) in a paper published in IEEE Electron Device Letters.
The ultra-wide band gap of the material makes it efficient for high-voltage switching and the efficiency could help reduce energy use by replacing less efficient power switches typically implemented in silicon.
The transistor has a current on/off ratio of 10^10 and a subthreshold voltage roll off 140mV/decade when laid down on 300nm thick silicon dioxide. E-mode GOOI FET with source to drain spacing of 0.9 μm demonstrates a breakdown voltage of 185V and an average electric field (E) of 2 MV/cm, showing the promise of GOOI FET for future power devices.
The team also developed a low-cost method to produce layers of Ga2O3. Similar to the way graphene can be produced, adhesive tape can be used to peel off layers of the semiconductor from a single crystal.
To get round the poor thermal properties of the material future research will focus on attaching the material to heatsink substrate such as diamond or aluminum nitride.
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