Novel cost-effective technical approach for production of AlGaN/GaN HEMTs on 6 inch Sapphire Substrates

The goal of this proposal is to demonstrate large area manufacturing technology for high performance AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) for radar and RF applications. TDI proposes to develop novel epitaxial technology for HEMTs structures on large area sapphire substrates based on hydride vapor phase epitaxial (HVPE) approach. TDI recently demonstrated the first-ever nitride HEMT grown by HVPE. The HEMT structures were grown on 2" sapphire substrates and when processed at University of Florida demonstrated performance comparable with current MOCVD and MBE technology. This is significant as fabricating the HEMT structure by HVPE gives a greater than 50% cost advantage over industry-standard MOCVD and MBE technologies. TDI achieved another breakthrough recently by demonstrating 4" GaN and 6" AlN epi capability. Combining these technologies provides an innovate approach to achieve low cost manufacturing of high power/frequency nitride HEMT epiwafers.