LAUSR

Abstract The use of GaN photoconductive semiconductor switches (PCSSs) is plugged by the high local electric field at the electrode edges and the low on-state current in the sub-bandgap triggering mode. Therefore, a new high-power semi-insulating GaN PCSS structure, which is a quantum well coupled with a trench PCSS (QWTPCSS), is presented. The trench changes the electric field distribution. In the off state, the maximum electric field of the GaN QWTPCSS is 202.1 kV ⋅ cm −1, which is 60.57% lower than the 512.6 kV ⋅ cm −1 of the conventional structure. Moreover, the introduced AlGaN layer forms two-dimensional electron gases (2DEGs) in the conduction state; when triggered by a 532 nm laser, such 2DEGs contribute to the on-state current, which increases by 9.37% relative to that of the structure without AlGaN. These results demonstrate the potential of QWTPCSS to achieve high power.