A Novel Embedded p‐GaN Resistor Design in p‐GaN Gate AlGaN/GaN High‐Electron‐Mobility Transistors for Enhanced Performance

This paper proposes a novel structure to enhance the performance of E‐mode Schottky p‐GaN gate AlGaN/GaN high‐electron‐mobility transistors (HEMTs) by integrating an embedded p‐GaN resistor. Formed from the same p‐GaN epitaxial layer and directly connected to the source, this resistor provides a current path that stabilizes gate operation. The proposed AlGaN/GaN HEMT structure is compared with conventional p‐GaN gate devices. Fabricated on the same epitaxial wafer, the new design achieves an increased threshold voltage (from 1.3 to 1.7 V) without degrading on‐resistance or breakdown characteristics. Furthermore, the reverse conduction loss under negative gate bias is significantly reduced. Dynamic R ON measurements under off‐state drain bias stress show improved stability in the proposed device, indicating suppression of current collapse. The embedded p‐GaN resistor also enhances gate stability by alleviating the high electric field in the Schottky gate region and addressing the floating effect of the p‐GaN layer. Importantly, time‐to‐failure extrapolation indicates a projected 10 y lifetime at ≈5.5 V gate bias (63.2% failure probability), representing a ≈0.5 V improvement compared with the conventional device.