Ultrawide‐Bandgap Semiconductors: Research Opportunities and Challenges

Abstract: Ultrawide‐bandgap (UWBG) semiconductors, with bandgaps significantly wider than the 3.4 eV of GaN, represent an exciting and challenging new area of research in semiconductor materials, physics, devices, and applications. Because many figures‐of‐merit for device performance scale nonlinearly with bandgap, these semiconductors have long been known to have compelling potential advantages over their narrower‐bandgap cousins in high‐power and RF electronics, as well as in deep‐UV optoelectronics, quantum information, and extreme‐environment applications. Only recently, however, have the UWBG semiconductor materials, such as high Al‐content AlGaN, diamond and Ga2O3, advanced in maturity to the point where realizing some of their tantalizing advantages is a relatively near‐term possibility. In this article, the materials, physics, device and application research opportunities and challenges for advancing their state of the art are surveyed.

Citation: J. Y. Tsao, S. Chowdhury, M. A. Hollis, D. Jena, N. M. Johnson, K. A. Jones, R. J. Kaplar, S. Rajan, C. G. Van de Walle, E. Bellotti, C. L. Chua, R. Collazo, M. E. Coltrin, J. A. Cooper, K. R. Evans, S. Graham, T. A. Grotjohn, E. R. Heller, M. Higashiwaki, M. S. Islam, P. W. Juodawlkis, M. A. Khan, A. D. Koehler, J. H. Leach, U. K. Mishra, R. J. Nemanich, R. C. N. Pilawa‐Podgurski, J. B. Shealy, Z. Sitar, M. J. Tadjer, A. F. Witulski, M. Wraback, J. A. Simmons, Adv. Electron. Mater. 2018, 4, 1600501; https://doi.org/10.1002/aelm.201600501

Kyma's Thanks: The staff of Kyma Technologies is deeply grateful to Jeff Tsao and his colleagues at Sandia National Laboratory for their vision and leadership in pursuing and in so doing for engaging leading scientists and engineers to create an important review article that we believe will serve as a great resource for many in the exciting technology and application space associated with ultra-wide bandgap semiconductors.