According to Xidian University, Academician Hao Yue's team has developed a new type of hole super-injection p-NiO/n-Ga2O3 semiconductor heterojunction diode. Through the heterojunction hole super-injection effect, the structure realizes a gallium oxide power diode with ultra-high withstand voltage and very low on-resistance, and the Power figure of merit up to 13.2GW/cm2, which is the highest value of gallium oxide semiconductor devices so far.

Gallium oxide (β-Ga2O3) is a typical representative of ultra-wide forbidden band semiconductors, forbidden region width up to (~4.8 eV), critical breakdown field strength up to (~8 MV/cm), is one of the ideal semiconductor materials for the development of high-withstand voltage, high-power and high-efficiency energy-saving semiconductor devices, can achieve high breakdown, low power and low-cost device chip triple advantages, in the power transmission conversion, electric vehicles, high-speed rail and other fields have major application prospects.

Compared with the current industry-hot third-generation semiconductor GaN and SiC, Ga2O3 power devices have lower on-resistance under the same withstand voltage, and will achieve lower power consumption and higher conversion efficiency when applied to the field of power conversion. Therefore, in recent years, gallium oxide semiconductors have become a hot spot in international semiconductor research and the commanding heights of technological competition among major countries.

The research team of Xidian University has achieved high-speed improvement in the performance of gallium oxide power diodes and power transistors through a series of technological innovations, making the research level of gallium oxide power devices in China enter the forefront of the world.

Source: Nature Communications