World's First GaN-on-Diamond Transistor Developed

Somerset, NJ -- EMCORE Corporation announced that a team including EMCORE, Group4 Labs and Engineers at the U.S. Air Force Research Labs (AFRL) have demonstrated the world's first successful fabrication of operational gallium nitride (GaN)-on-Diamond High-Electron-Mobility-Transistor (HEMT) device. AlGaN/GaN epitaxial transistor layers were grown by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) at EMCORE and atomically attached to chemically vapor deposited (CVD) diamond substrate by Group4 Labs. The AFRL team fabricated the transistors.

This achievement highlights the feasibility of producing GaN-based radio-frequency devices closely thermally coupled to diamond substrates to maximize heat extraction from these devices. The team expects this technology to improve power density and efficiency of devices operating at high frequencies due to higher packing density and better heat dissipation in the immediate vicinity of the active device area. This process has a wide-range of possible applications, including high performance GaN-based RF devices, high brightness LEDs and laser diodes. This work was supported in part by a DARPA-funded cooperative agreement between EMCORE and AFRL.

"We are excited by the promise of this technology combining the most robust semiconductor material with the best heat spreader," commented Dr. Ivan Eliashevich, Director of R&D at EMCORE Corporation's EMD division. "Epitaxial wafers based on a GaN-on-Diamond platform should enable device manufacturers to push the limits of high-power performance and reliability across a wide range of applications."

SOURCE: EMCORE Corporation