Gallium nitride (GaN) power transistors have attracted significant interest in the power electronics industry over the past decade as the next-generation power semiconductor devices. GaN power transistors are suitable for high power and high frequency applications due to their higher electron mobility, temperature tolerance, electrical conductivity, critical breakdown electric field, and breakdown voltage compared to the conventional silicon-based transistors and other wide bandgap (WBG) power transistors. In particular, GaN-on-silicon (GaN-on-Si) technology has opened up the possibility of manufacturing high-performance, low-cost WBG power devices in silicon-compatible fabrication facilities. The first GaN power transistor structure to be developed was the normally-ON depletion mode (D-mode) device. It relies on the highly mobile two-dimension electron gas (2DEG) at the GaN/AlGaN epitaxial layers’ interface to provide very low on-resistance. The normally-OFF enhancement mode (E-mode) GaN power transistor soon became available by controlling the 2DEG using various gate structures. This paper provides a review of the developments of GaN power transistors followed by a survey on current state-of-the-art GaN power technologies and applications, including comparisons between GaN growth substrates and developments of enhancement mode (E-mode) device structures and their process techniques. Moreover, developments of power module designs are also addressed, including gate driver designs and their requirements, and packaging techniques for power transistors and power modules.

在过去的十年中，氮化镓（GaN）功率晶体管作为下一代功率半导体器件在功率电子行业引起了巨大兴趣。GaN功率晶体管与传统的硅基晶体管和其他宽带隙（WBG）功率晶体管相比，具有更高的电子迁移率，温度容限，电导率，临界击穿电场和击穿电压，因此适用于高功率和高频应用。 。特别是，硅基氮化镓（GaN-on-Si）技术为在兼容硅的制造设施中制造高性能，低成本WBG功率器件提供了可能性。将要开发的第一个GaN功率晶体管结构是常开耗尽模式（D模式）设备。它依靠GaN / AlGaN外延层界面处的高迁移率二维电子气（2DEG）提供非常低的导通电阻。通过使用各种栅极结构控制2DEG ，常关增强模式（E- mode ）GaN功率晶体管很快变得可用。本文对GaN功率晶体管的发展进行了回顾，然后对当前最新的GaN功率技术和应用进行了调查，包括GaN生长衬底之间的比较和增强模式的发展（E模式的设备结构及其处理技术。此外，还讨论了功率模块设计的发展，包括栅极驱动器设计及其要求，以及功率晶体管和功率模块的封装技术。