TECHNICAL FIELD

Embodiments of the disclosure pertain to in-process charging control and, in particular, to a substrate contact for in-process charging control.

BACKGROUND

GaN technologies implemented on Si substrates are susceptible to in process charging/arcing due to the semi-insulating nature of the GaN material system and high-resistivity Si substrates used for high frequency radio frequency (RF) applications. Conventional approaches to charging protection rely on deep and large area silicon contact shunts.

A disadvantage of conventional solutions is the process complexity involved in creating deep and large area substrate connections. In addition, topographical imperatives involved in the implementation of conventional solutions limit scaling as large keep-away limits must be maintained to mitigate density interactions with surrounding circuitry. For highly scaled RF front-end technologies this area penalty can be a substantial fraction of the product die area.

