Defect Engineering in Gallium Nitride Semiconductors for Improving Carrier Mobility and High-Power Electronic Device Reliability

Author

Felix Denkyi

Abstract

 Gallium nitride power devices increasingly operate at electric-field, switching-frequency, and junction-temperature regimes where defect-mediated carrier trapping becomes a principal constraint on transport stability and operational lifetime. This study investigates how targeted defect engineering can modify the relationship between GaN microstructure, electron mobility, and degradation in high-power electronic devices. The analysis focuses on nitrogen vacancies, gallium vacancies, carbon- and oxygen-related impurities, threading dislocations, and interface traps whose electronic states promote Coulomb scattering, carrier capture, dynamic on-resistance, leakage, and threshold-voltage instability. A defect–transport–reliability framework is developed to connect defect concentration and trap energetics with mobility degradation and electrically activated failure mechanisms. Engineering interventions including epitaxial growth-condition control, compensation management, dislocation reduction, interface passivation, and post-growth thermal processing are comparatively examined. Particular emphasis is placed on distinguishing defects that primarily limit channel transport from deep-level traps activated under high-field and high-temperature stress. The framework establishes measurable links among trap density, electron mobility, current collapse, leakage evolution, and device degradation, providing a pathway for optimizing GaN heterostructures for sustained high-voltage operation without sacrificing transport performance or switching efficiency.

Keywords

Gallium Nitride; Deep-Level Traps; Threading Dislocations; Carrier Mobility; Dynamic On-Resistance; Device Reliability

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References

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