Thermal stability of tungsten and tungsten nitride Schottky contacts to AlGaN/GaN

Thin tungsten nitride (WNx) films were produced by reactive DC magnetron sputtering of tungsten in an Ar-N2 gas mixture. The films were used as Schottky contacts on AlGaN/GaN heterostructures. The Schottky behaviours of WNx contact was investigated under various annealing conditions by current-voltage (I-V ) measurements. The results show that the gate leakage current was reduced to 10-6 A/cm2 when the N2 flow is 400 mL/min. The results also show that the WNx contact improved the thermal stability of Schottky contacts. Finally, the current transport mechanism in WNx/AlGaN/GaN Schottky diodes has been investigated by means of I-V characterisation technique at various temperatures between 300 K and 523 K. A TE model with a Gaussian distribution of Schottky barrier heights (SBHs) is thought to be responsible for the electrical behaviour at temperatures lower than 523 K.     

Performance comparison of Pt/Au and Ni/Au Schottky contacts on AlxGa1-x N/GaN heterostructures at high temperatures

In contrast with Au/Ni/Al 0.25 Ga 0.75 N/GaN Schottky contacts,this paper systematically investigates the effect of thermal annealing of Au/Pt/Al 0.25 Ga 0.75 N/GaN structures on electrical properties of the two-dimensional electron gas in Al 0.25 Ga 0.75 N/GaN heterostructures by means of temperature-dependent Hall and temperature-dependent current-voltage measurements.The two-dimensional electron gas density of the samples with Pt cap layer increases after annealing in N 2 ambience at 600℃ while the annealing treatment has little effect on the two-dimensional electron gas mobility in comparison with the samples with Ni cap layer.The experimental results indicate that the Au/Pt/Al 0.25 Ga 0.75 N/GaN Schottky contacts reduce the reverse leakage current density at high annealing temperatures of 400-600℃.As a conclusion,the better thermal stability of the Au/Pt/Al 0.25 Ga 0.75 N/GaN Schottky contacts than the Au/Ni/Al 0.25 Ga 0.75 N/GaN Schottky contacts at high temperatures can be attributed to the inertness of the interface between Pt and AlxGa1-xN.     

The leakage current mechanisms in the Schottky diode with a thin Al layer insertion between Al0.245Ga0.755N/GaN heterostructure and Ni/Au Schottky contact

This paper investigates the behaviour of the reverse-bias leakage current of the Schottky diode with a thin Al inserting layer inserted between Al0.245Ga0.755 N/GaN heterostructure and Ni/Au Schottky contact in the temperature range of 25-350°C. It compares with the Schottky diode without Aluminium inserting layer. The experimental results show that in the Schottky diode with Al layer the minimum point of I-V curve drifts to the minus voltage, and with the increase of temperature increasing, the minimum point of I-V curve returns the 0 point. The temperature dependence of gate-leakage currents in the novelty diode and the traditional diode are studied. The results show that the Al inserting layer introduces interface states between metal and Al0.245Ga0.755N. Aluminium reacted with oxygen formed Al2O3 insulator layer which suppresses the trap tunnelling current and the trend of thermionic field emission current. The reliability of the diode at the high temperature is improved by inserting a thin Al layer.     

AlGaN/GaN high-electron-mobility transistors with transparent gates by Al-doped ZnO

AlGaN/GaN high-electron-mobility transistors （HEMTs） with Al-doped ZnO （AZO） transparent gate electrodes are fabricated, and Ni/Au/Ni-gated HEMTs are produced in comparison. The AZO-gated HEMTs show good DC characteristics and Schottky rectifying characteristics, and the gate electrodes achieve excellent transparencies. Compared with Ni/Au/Ni-gated HEMTs, AZO-gated HEMTs show a low saturation current, high threshold voltage, high Schottky barrier height, and low gate reverse leakage current. Due to the higher gate resistivity, AZO-gated HEMTs exhibit a current-gain cutoff frequency （fT） of 10 GHz and a power gain cutoff frequency （fmax） of 5 GHz, and lower maximum oscillation frequency than Ni/Au/Ni-gated HEMTs. Moreover, the C-V characteristics are measured and the gate interface characteristics of the AZO-gated devices are investigated by a C-V dual sweep.     

Influences of increasing gate stem height on DC and RF performances of InAlAs/InGaAs InP-based HEMTs

The T-gate stem height of In Al As/In Ga As In P-based high electron mobility transistor(HEMT) is increased from165 nm to 250 nm. The influences of increasing the gate stem height on the direct current(DC) and radio frequency(RF)performances of device are investigated. A 120-nm-long gate, 250-nm-high gate stem device exhibits a higher threshold voltage(Vth) of 60 m V than a 120-nm-long gate devices with a short gate stem, caused by more Pt distributions on the gate foot edges of the high Ti/Pt/Au gate. The Pt distribution in Schottky contact metal is found to increase with the gate stem height or the gate length increasing, and thus enhancing the Schottky barrier height and expanding the gate length,which can be due to the increased internal tensile stress of Pt. The more Pt distributions for the high gate stem device also lead to more obvious Pt sinking, which reduces the distance between the gate and the In Ga As channel so that the transconductance(gm) of the high gate stem device is 70 m S/mm larger than that of the short stem device. As for the RF performances,the gate extrinsic parasitic capacitance decreases and the intrinsic transconductance increases after the gate stem height has been increased, so the RF performances of device are obviously improved. The high gate stem device yields a maximum ft of 270 GHz and fmax of 460 GHz, while the short gate stem device has a maximum ft of 240 GHz and the fmax of 370 GHz.     

Leakage current reduction by thermal oxidation in Ni/Au Schottky contacts on lattice-matched In0.18Al0.82N/GaN heterostructures

By using temperature-dependent current–voltage, variable-frequency capacitance–voltage, and Hall measurements,the effects of the thermal oxidation on the electrical properties of Ni/Au Schottky contacts on lattice-matched In0.18Al0.82N/GaN heterostructures are investigated. Decrease of the reverse leakage current down to six orders of magnitude is observed after the thermal oxidation of the In0.18Al0.82N/GaN heterostructures at 700oC. It is confirmed that the reverse leakage current is dominated by the Frenkel–Poole emission, and the main origin of the leakage current is the emission of electrons from a trap state near the metal/semiconductor interface into a continuum of electronic states associated with the conductive dislocations in the InxAl1-xN barrier. It is believed that the thermal oxidation results in the formation of a thin oxide layer on the InxAl1-xN surface, which increases the electron emission barrier height.     

Fabrication and characterization of vertical GaN Schottky barrier diodes with boron-implanted termination

The vertical GaN-on-GaN Schottky barrier diode with boron-implanted termination was fabricated and characterized.Compared with the Schottky barrier diode(SBD)without boron-implanted termination,this SBD effectively improved the breakdown voltage from 189 V to 585 V and significantly reduced the reverse leakage current by 10^5 times.In addition,a high Ion/Ioff ratio of ~10^8 was achieved by the boron-implanted technology.We used Technology Computer Aided Design(TCAD)to analyze reasons for the improved performance of the SBD with boron-implanted termination.The improved performance of diodes may be attributed to that B+could confine free carriers to suppress electron field crowding at the edge of the diode,which could improve the breakdown voltage and suppress the reverse leakage current.     

Self-aligned-gate AlGaN/GaN heterostructure field-effect transistor with titanium nitride gate

Self-aligned-gate heterostructure field-effect transistor(HFET) is fabricated using a wet-etching method.Titanium nitride(TiN) is one kind of thermal stable material which can be used as the gate electrode.A Ti/Au cap layer is fixed on the gate and acts as an etching mask.Then the T-shaped gate is automatically formed through over-etching the TiN layer in 30% H_2O_2 solution at 95 ℃.After treating the ohmic region with an inductively coupled plasma(ICP) method,an Al layer is sputtered as an ohmic electrode.The ohmic contact resistance is approximately 0.3 Ω·mm after annealing at a low-temperature of 575 ℃ in N_2 ambient for 1 min.The TiN gate leakage current is only 10~(-8) A after the low-temperature ohmic process.The access region length of the self-aligned-gate(SAG) HFET was reduced from 2 μm to 0.3 μm compared with that of the gate-first HFET.The output current density and transconductance of the device which has the same gate length and width are also increased.     

Influence of heavy ion irradiation on DC and gate-lag performance of AlGaN/GaN HEMTs

AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors(HEMTs) were irradiated by 256 Me V127 I ions with a fluence up to1×1010ions/cm2 at the HI-13 heavy ion accelerator of the China Institute of Atomic Energy. Both the drain current I d and the gate current I g increased in off-state during irradiation. Post-irradiation measurement results show that the device output, transfer, and gate characteristics changed significantly. The saturation drain current, reverse gate leakage current,and the gate-lag all increased dramatically. By photo emission microscopy, electroluminescence hot spots were found in the gate area. All of the parameters were retested after one day and after one week, and no obvious annealing effect was observed under a temperature of 300 K. Further analysis demonstrates that swift heavy ions produced latent tracks along the ion trajectories through the hetero-junction. Radiation-induced defects in the latent tracks decreased the charges in the two-dimensional electron gas and reduced the carrier mobility, degrading device performance.     

Effects of Annealing on Schottky Characteristics in A1GaN/GaN HEMT with Transparent Gate Electrode

A1GaN/GaN heterostructure transistors are promising for power and switching applications. In addition, the transparent wide band-gap A1GaN/GaN heterostructure systems have received considerable attention to transparent electronics. Nowdays, Al-doped ZnO （AZO） thin film plays an increas- ingly important role in various fields of transparent electronics.The AZO-gated A1GaN/GaN HEMT with good dc characteristics and frequency character- istics has been reported. Annealing is widely used to improve the electri- cal characteristics of A1GaN/GaN HEMTs. It is re- ported that the Schottky leakage current can be re- duced by over four orders of magnitude by annealing in an A1GaN/GaN heterostructure with ITO/Ni/Au electrode. Pei et al. reported that the transparency of Ni/ITO gates of A1GaN/GaN HEMTs has been sig- nificantly improved after annealing. However, the evaluation of Schottky C V characteristics was ab- sent. Up to now, few results are reported on the Schot- tky annealing characteristics of AZO in A1GaN/GaN HEMT. Thus the effects of annealing on the leakage current, transparency and interface states character- istics need further study.     

AlGaN/GaN异质结Ni/Au肖特基表面处理及退火研究

采用O₂等离子体及HF溶液对AlGaN/GaN异质结材料进行表面处理后，Ni/Au肖特基接触特性比未处理有了明显改善，反向泄漏电流减小3个数量级.对制备的肖特基接触进行200—600℃ 5min的N₂气氛退火，发现退火冷却后肖特基反向泄漏电流随退火温度增大进一步减小.N₂气中600℃退火后肖特基二极管C-V特性曲线在不同频率下一致性变好，这表明退火中Ni向材料表面扩散减小了表面陷阱密度；C-V特性曲线随退火温度增大向右移动，从二维电子气耗尽电压绝对值减小反映了肖特基势垒的提高. 关键词： AlGaN/GaN 肖特基接触 表面处理 退火     

Improved device performance in nonpolar a ‐plane GaN LEDs using a Ni/Al/Ni/Au n‐type ohmic contact

The authors report upon the increased light‐output power (P_out) via a reduction in the forward voltage (V_f) for nonpolar a ‐plane GaN LEDs using Ni/Al/Ni/Au n‐type ohmic contacts. The specific contact resistivity of the Ni/Al/Ni/Au contact is found to be as low as 5.6 × 10^–5 whereas that of a typical Ti/Al/Ni/Au contact is 6.8 × 10^–4 Ω cm², after annealing at 700 °C. The X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy results show that the upward surface band bending is less pronounced for the Ni/Al contact compared to the Ti/Al contact, leading to a decrease in the effective Schottky barrier height (SBH). The V_f of the nonpolar LEDs decreases by 10% and P_out increases by 15% when the Ni/Al/Ni/Au scheme is used instead of the typical Ti/Al/Ni/Au metal scheme. (© 2011 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

增强型AlGaN/GaN高电子迁移率晶体管高温退火研究

深入研究了两种增强型AlGaN/GaN高电子迁移率晶体管(HEMT)高温退火前后的直流特性变化.槽栅增强型AlGaN/GaN HEMT在500 ℃ N₂中退火5 min后,阈值电压由0.12 V正向移动到0.57 V,器件Schottky反向栅漏电流减小一个数量级.F注入增强型AlGaN/GaN HEMT在 400 ℃ N₂中退火2 min后,器件阈值电压由0.23 V负向移动到-0.69 V,栅泄漏电流明显增大.槽栅增强型器件退火过程中Schottky有效势垒     

Ni/Au Schottky gate oxidation and BCB passivation for high-breakdown-voltage AlGaN/GaN HEMT

A new AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) employing Ni/Au Schottky gate oxidation and benzocyclobutene (BCB) passivation is fabricated in order to increase a breakdown voltage and forward drain current. The Ni/Au Schottky gate metal with a thickness of 50/300 nm is oxidized under oxygen ambient at 500 C and the highly resistive NiO is formed at the gate edge. The leakage current of AlGaN/GaN HEMTs is decreased from 4.94 μA to 3.34 nA due to the formation of NiO. The BCB, which has a low dielectric constant, successfully passivates AlGaN/GaN HEMTs by suppressing electron injection into surface states. The BCB passivation layer has a low capacitance, so BCB passivation increases the switching speed of AlGaN/GaN HEMTs compared with silicon nitride passivation, which has a high dielectric constant. The forward drain current of a BCB-passivated device is 199 mA /mm, while that of an unpassivated device is 172 mA /mm due to the increase in two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) charge.     

AlGaN/GaN高电子迁移率晶体管肖特基高温退火机理研究

在不同应力条件下，研究了AlGaN/GaN高电子迁移率晶体管高温退火前后的电流崩塌、栅泄漏电流以及击穿电压的变化.结果表明，AlGaN/GaN高电子迁移率晶体管通过肖特基高温退火以后，器件的特性得到很大的改善.利用电镜扫描(SEM)和X射线光电子能谱(XPS)对高温退火前、后的肖特基接触界面进行深入分析，发现器件经过高温退火后，Ni和AlGaN层之间介质的去除，并且AlGaN材料表面附近的陷阱减少，使得肖特基有效势垒提高，从而提高器件的电学特性. 关键词： AlGaN/GaN高电子迁移率晶体管 肖特基接触 界面陷阱     

热退火处理对AuGeNi/n-AlGaInP欧姆接触性能的影响

本文在n-(Al0.27Ga0.73)0.5In0.5P表面通过电子束蒸发Ni/Au/Ge/Ni/Au叠层金属并优化退火工艺成功制备了具有较低接触电阻的欧姆接触,其比接触电阻率在445℃退火600 s时达到1.4×10–4 W·cm2.二次离子质谱仪测试表明,叠层金属Ni/Au/Ge/Ni/Au与n-AlGaInP界面发生固相反应,Ga,In原子由于热分解发生外扩散并在晶格中留下Ⅲ族空位.本文把欧姆接触形成的原因归结为Ge原子内扩散占据Ga空位和In空位作为施主提高N型掺杂浓度.优化退火工艺对低掺杂浓度n-(Al0.27Ga0.73)0.5In0.5P的欧姆接触性能有显著改善效果,但随着n-(Al0.27Ga0.73)0.5In0.5P掺杂浓度提高,比接触电阻率与退火工艺没有明显关系.本文为n面出光的AlGaInP薄膜发光二极管芯片的n电极制备提供了一种新的方法,有望大幅简化制备工艺,降低制造成本.