High-Voltage β-Ga(2)O(3) Schottky Diode with Argon-Implanted Edge Termination

The edge-terminated Au/Ni/β-Ga(2)O(3) Schottky barrier diodes were fabricated by using argon implantation to form the high-resistivity layers at the periphery of the anode contacts. With the implantation energy of 50 keV and dose of 5 × 10(14) cm(−2) and 1 × 10(16) cm(−2), the reverse breakdown voltage increases from 209 to 252 and 451 V (the maximum up to 550 V) and the Baliga figure-of-merit (V(BR)(2)/R(on)) also increases from 25.7 to 30.2 and 61.6 MW cm(−2), about 17.5% and 140% enhancement, respectively. According to the 2D simulation, the electric fields at the junction corner are smoothed out after argon implantation and the position of the maximum breakdown electric filed, 5.05 MV/cm, changes from the anode corner at the interface to the overlap corner just under the implantation region. The temperature dependence of the forward characteristics was also investigated.