Proton irradiation induced single-event burnout effect in P-GaN power devices

Abstract

The microphysical mechanism of the proton-induced single-event burnout (SEB) effect in P-GaN power devices was investigated by experiments and simulations. The experiment results show that when the proton energy is 100 MeV and the proton fluence reaches 1.38 × 10¹¹ p·cm⁻², the device with the bias voltage of 600 V appears SEB. The transport and deposition processes of particles in the failure event were simulated using Monte Carlo and TCAD methods. The simulation results show that the nuclear reaction of protons with the device material leads to the generation of secondary particles with different Linear Energy Transfer (LET) values, and the secondary particles will have an ionization effect and induce many electron-hole pairs. Under the action of the electric field, electrons are rapidly collected at the drain electrode, and holes accumulate under the gate. The accumulation of charge under the gate lowers the potential barrier, producing the bipolar effect and the back-channel effect. These two effects drive more electrons toward the drain, leading to a large current breakdown. Notably, the additional electric field significantly impacts the occurrence of SEB.