ABSTRACT
Planar vertical gallium nitride devices are capable of utilizing the beneficial material properties inherent to bulk GaN without the interference of surface leakage pathways or passivation failures inherent to lateral devices, however, the stability and long-term viability of implanted termination necessitates study. Here we show stressing of 3.3kV vertical GaN diodes with nitrogen implanted termination at over 80% of the breakdown voltage and at up to 200°C for over 400 hours. Some diodes exhibit a burn-in effect with small changes to the breakdown voltage and leakage at breakdown while others exhibit robust and nearly invariant behavior to the limits of testing. Additionally, thermal stressing of a cohort of devices without bias shows an increased degradation of breakdown voltage above 300°C and differentiation of devices within the cohort beyond 350°C enabling further study of the degradation mechanisms.
