Design and fabrication of 0.5 micron GaAs Schottky barrier diodes for low-noise terahertz receiver applications

Recent technological advances have made possible the development of heterodyne receivers with high sensitivity and high spectral resolution for frequencies in the range 1,000–3,000 GHz (1–3 THz). These receivers rely on GaAs Schottky barrier mixer diodes to translate the high-frequency signal to a lower frequency where amplification and signal processing are possible. At these frequencies, the diode quality is a major limitation to the performance of the receiver. The design, fabrication and DC evaluation of a diode for this frequency range is presented. A figure-of-merit cut-off frequency of over 10 THz is achieved with a record low zero biased capacitance of 0.5 fF. Results from RF tests are also given.This work has been supported in part by the National Science Foundation under contract ECS-8720850 and the US Army.     

Investigation of GaAs Schottky barrier diodes in the THz range

The properties of GaAs Schottky barrier diodes as video detectors and mixing elements were investigated in the frequency range from 0.8–2.5 THz. For the most sensitive diode, the video responsivity and system noise temperature were measured as a function of incident laser power. The highest video responsivity was 2,000 V/W at 214m and 60 V/W at 118m. For five diodes differing in doping, capacitance, series resistance and anode diameter, the system noise temperature was measured at 214m and 118m. The best single sideband (SSB) values are 12,300 K and 24,200 K at 214m and 118m, respectively. The system noise temperature versus frequency is given over the range from 0.5–3 THz for two specific diodes demonstrating that the sharpness of the I–V characteristics is only of secondary importance for mixer perfomance at such high frequencies.     

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.     

Fabrication and characteristics of lateral Ti/4H-SiC Schottky barrier diodes

This paper describes the fabrication and characteristics of the lateral Ti/4H-SiC Schottky barrier diodes (SBDs). SBDs are fabricated by nitrogen ion implantation into p-type 4H-SiC epitaxial layer. The implant depth profile is simulated using the Monte Carlo simulator TRIM. Measurements of the reverse I－V characteristics demonstrate a low reverse current, that is good enough for many SiC-based devices such as SiC metal-semiconductor field-effect transistors, and SiC static induction transistors. The parameters of the diodes are extracted from the forward I－V characteristics. The barrier height φ_b of Ti/4H-SiC is 0.95 eV.     

Breakdown characteristics of AIGaN/GaN Schottky barrier diodes fabricated on a silicon substrate

In this work, the breakdown characteristics of AlGaN/GaN planar Schottky barrier diodes （SBDs） fabricated on the silicon substrate are investigated. The breakdown voltage （BV） of the SBDs first increases as a function of the anodeto-cathode distance and then tends to saturate at larger inter-electrode spacing. The saturation behavior of the BV is likely caused by the vertical breakdown through the intrinsic GaN buffer layer on silicon, which is supported by the post-breakdown primary leakage path analysis with the emission microscopy. Surface passivation and field plate termination are found effective to suppress the leakage current and enhance the BV of the SBDs. A high BV of 601 V is obtained with a low on-resistance of 3.15 mΩ·cm^2.     

Breakdown characteristics of AlGaN/GaN Schottky barrier diodes fabricated on a silicon substrate

In this work, the breakdown characteristics of AlGaN/GaN planar Schottky barrier diodes(SBDs) fabricated on the silicon substrate are investigated. The breakdown voltage(BV) of the SBDs first increases as a function of the anodeto-cathode distance and then tends to saturate at larger inter-electrode spacing. The saturation behavior of the BV is likely caused by the vertical breakdown through the intrinsic GaN buffer layer on silicon, which is supported by the postbreakdown primary leakage path analysis with the emission microscopy. Surface passivation and field plate termination are found effective to suppress the leakage current and enhance the BV of the SBDs. A high BV of 601 V is obtained with a low on-resistance of 3.15 mΩ·cm2.     

High reliability sputtered Schottky diodes on GaAs

We describe developments to improve reliability and power handling for high frequency applications in whisker-contacted Schottky barrier diode mixers, detectors and multipliers fabricated using sputtered refractory metals and silicides. The lift-off process has been used to fabricate diodes on GaAs with ideality factors of 1.18 and 1.06 for W/GaAs and TiSi_x/GaAs contacts respectively.     

Prediction of lateral barrier height in identically prepared Ni/n-type GaAs Schottky barrier diodes

We have identically prepared Ni/n-GaAs/In Schottky barrier diodes (SBDs) with doping density of 7.3 × 10¹⁵ cm⁻³. The barrier height for the Ni/n-GaAs/In SBDs from the current-voltage characteristics have varied from 0.835 to 0.856 eV, and ideality factor n from 1.02 to 1.08. We have determined a lateral homogeneous barrier height value of 0.862 eV for the Ni/n-GaAs/In SBD from the experimental linear relationship between barrier heights and ideality factors.     

Series resistance calculation for the Metal-Insulator-Semiconductor Schottky barrier diodes

An accurate way of determining the series resistance R_s of Schottky Barrier Diodes (SBDs) with and without the interfacial oxide layer using forward current-voltage (I–V) characteristics is discussed both theoretically and experimentally by taking into account the applied voltage drop across the interfacial layerV _i. For the experimental discussion, the forward biasI–V characteristics of the SBDs with and without the oxide layer fabricated by LEC (the Liquid-Encapsulated Czochralski) GaAs were performed. The SBD without the oxide layer was fabricated to confirm a novel calculation method. For the theoretical discussion, an expression ofV _i was obtained by considering effects of the layer thickness and the interface state density parameters on forward biasI–V of the SBDs. The valueR _s of the SBD with interfacial oxide layer was seen to be larger than that of the SBD without the interfacial oxide layer due to contribution of this layer to the series resistance. According to the obtained theoretical formula, the value ofV _i for the SBD with the oxide layer was calculated and it was subtracted from the applied voltage values V and then the value ofR _s was recalculated. Thus, it has been shown that this new value ofR _s is in much closer agreement with that determined for the SBD without the oxide layer as predicted. Furthermore, the curves of the interface states energy distribution of each sample are determined. It was concluded that the shape of the density distribution curve and order of magnitude of the density of the interface states in the considered energy range are in close agreement with those obtained by others for Au/n-GaAs Schottky diodes by Schottky capacitance spectroscopy.     

Micro‐Raman analysis of GaAs Schottky barrier solar cell

Gallium arsenide (GaAs) cells have been in the race with silicon single‐crystal cells for the highest efficiency photovoltaic devices. The annealed, irradiated Schottky barrier (SB) solar cells were characterised using micro‐Raman spectroscopy at three different regions: namely, at the (1) ohmic contact region, (2) unirradiated region and (3) irradiated region. We also present a micro‐Raman study of the damage process in annealed GaAs SB solar cells bombarded by high‐energy ions. A Gaussian line shape was fitted to the Raman spectra of the longitudinal optical phonon A₁(LO), and parameters such as intensity, full width at half maximum (FWHM) and the area under the peak were obtained for the different annealing temperatures. Biaxial stress (σ), carrier concentration (n), depletion length (L_d), dislocation velocity (ν) and life time of the first‐order optical phonon (τ) of the A₁(LO) mode of the irradiated region of the samples annealed at different temperatures were calculated. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Characterization of ion-implanted 4H-SiC Schottky barrier diodes

Ion-implantation layers are fabricated by multiple nitrogen ion-implantations (3 times for sample A and 4 times for sample B) into a p-type 4H-SiC epitaxial layer. The implantation depth profiles are calculated by using the Monte Carlo simulator TRIM. The fabrication process and the I--V and C--V characteristics of the lateral Ti/4H-SiC Schottky barrier diodes (SBDs) fabricated on these multiple box-like ion-implantation layers are presented in detail. Measurements of the reverse I--V characteristics demonstrate a low reverse current, which is good enough for many SiC-based devices such as SiC metal--semiconductor field-effect transistors (MESFETs), and SiC static induction transistors (SITs). The parameters of the diodes are extracted from the forward I--V and C--V characteristics. The values of ideality factor n of SBDs for samples A and B are 3.0 and 3.5 respectively, and the values of series resistance R_\rm s are 11.9 and 1.0~kΩ respectively. The values of barrier height φ _\rm B of Ti/4H-SiC are 0.95 and 0.72 eV obtained by the I--V method and 1.14 and 0.93 eV obtained by the C--V method for samples A and B respectively. The activation rates for the implanted nitrogen ions of samples A and B are 2\% and 4\% respectively extracted from C--V testing results.     

Design and simulation of AlN-based vertical Schottky barrier diodes

The key parameters of vertical AlN Schottky barrier diodes(SBDs) with variable drift layer thickness(DLT) and drift layer concentration(DLC) are investigated. The specific on-resistance(R_(on,sp)) decreased to 0.5 m? · cm~2 and the breakdown voltage(V_(BR)) decreased from 3.4 kV to 1.1 kV by changing the DLC from 10~(15) cm~(-3) to 3×10~(16) cm~(-3). The VBRincreases from 1.5 kV to 3.4 kV and the Ron,sp also increases to 12.64 m? · cm~2 by increasing DLT from 4-μm to 11-μm. The VBRenhancement results from the increase of depletion region extension. The Baliga's figure of merit(BFOM) of3.8 GW/cm~2 was obtained in the structure of 11-μm DLT and 10~(16) cm~(-3) DLC without FP. When DLT or DLC is variable,the consideration of the value of BFOM is essential. In this paper, we also present the vertical AlN SBD with a field plate(FP), which decreases the crowding of electric field in electrode edge. All the key parameters were optimized by simulating based on Silvaco-ATLAS.     

Current-voltage behaviour of Schottky diodes fabricated on p-type silicon for radiation hard detectors

Current-voltage (I-V) measurements were carried out on Schottky diodes fabricated on undoped and on metal-doped p-type silicon. The metals used are gold, platinum, erbium and niobium. The I-V data were used to extract the saturation current, the ideality factor and the Schottky barrier height for each of the five diodes. These parameters were correlated to the defect levels generated by the metals in silicon. The results show that in all cases the silicon has become relaxation-like after doping since the device current is Ohmic. This is in agreement with the existence of the midgap defect in all the doped devices as compiled from the literature. Such metal doped (or relaxation) devices have been found to perform better as radiation-hard particle detectors.     

Fabrication and characterization of aluminum-doped zinc oxide Schottky diodes on n-GaN

Aluminum-doped zinc oxide (AZO) films were prepared using an electron-beam evaporation system to form Schottky contacts on n-type GaN at depositing temperatures varied from 100 to 400 °C. The current–voltage (I–V) measurements which showed a rectifying characteristic were carried out to deduce the Schottky barrier heights (SBHs) according to the thermionic emission theory. The SBHs were calculated by using a linear curve fit to forward characteristics of ln(I) against V, and have a small alteration around 0.7 eV. Hall-effect measurements were carried out to illuminate the alteration of the SBHs that were mainly affected by the carrier concentration of the AZO films. It has been found that the SBH ascends as the carrier concentration decrease, and the dislocations play an important role on the leakage current of the contacts.     

Distortion of low-temperature voltage-current characteristics in Schottky barrier diodes

Within the framework of the Bardeen model for a metal-semiconductor contact (i.e., a contact with a transparent intermediate layer and surface electronic states) we demonstrate that the anomalous increase in the ideality factor of a Schottky barrier VCC at low temperatures may be due to charge capture by surface (semiconductor) states whose density falls off from the conduction band bottom to the midgap. We justify an empirical expression for the true VCC of a Schottky barrier valid in a wide temperature range.Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 2, pp. 29–32, February, 1987.     

Temperature-dependent characteristics of 4H-SiC junction barrier Schottky diodes

The current-voltage characteristics of 4H-SiC junction barrier Schottky(JBS) diodes terminated by an offset field plate have been measured in the temperature range of 25-300 C.An experimental barrier height value of about 0.5 eV is obtained for the Ti/4H-SiC JBS diodes at room temperature.A decrease in the experimental barrier height and an increase in the ideality factor with decreasing temperature are shown.Reverse recovery testing also shows the temperature dependence of the peak recovery current density and the reverse recovery time.Finally,a discussion of reducing the reverse recovery time is presented.     

Electron transport and barrier inhomogeneities in palladium silicide Schottky diodes

+ silicon wafer held at 573 K, are measured over a temperature range 37–307 K and analyzed in terms of thermionic emission–diffusion (TED) theory by incorporating the concept of barrier inhomogeneities through a Gaussian distribution function. The process adopted is shown to yield an ideal Schottky diode with a near constant barrier height of 0.734 V and ideality factor 1.05 in the temperature interval 215–307 K. Below 215 K, both the barrier height (φ_bo) and the ideality factor (η) exhibit abnormal temperature dependence and are explained by invoking two sets of Gaussian distributions of barrier heights at 84–215 K and 37–84 K. Further, it is demonstrated that the forward bias makes the Gaussian distribution dynamic so that the mean fluctuates (i.e., increases or decreases depending on whether its voltage coefficient is positive or negative) and the standard deviation decreases progressively, i.e., the barrier homogenizes temporarily. The changes occur in such a way that the apparent barrier height at any bias is always higher than at zero-bias. Finally, it is pointed out that the presence of single/multiple distributions can be ascertained and the values of respective parameters deduced from the φ_ap vs. 1/T plot itself. Also, the inverse ideality factor versus inverse temperature plot provides bias coefficients of the mean barrier height and standard deviation of the distribution function. Received: 6 January 1997/Accepted: 29 April 1997     

Review of gallium oxide based field-effect transistors and Schottky barrier diodes

Gallium oxide(Ga_2O_3), a typical ultra wide bandgap semiconductor, with a bandgap of ~4.9 e V, critical breakdown field of 8 MV/cm, and Baliga's figure of merit of 3444, is promising to be used in high-power and high-voltage devices.Recently, a keen interest in employing Ga_2O_3 in power devices has been aroused. Many researches have verified that Ga_2O_3 is an ideal candidate for fabricating power devices. In this review, we summarized the recent progress of field-effect transistors(FETs) and Schottky barrier diodes(SBDs) based on Ga_2O_3, which may provide a guideline for Ga_2O_3 to be preferably used in power devices fabrication.     

Thermally stimulated currents in semi-insulating GaAs Schottky diodes and their simulation

We report the investigation of the non-irradiated and irradiated-with-pions Schottky diodes made on semi-insulating GaAs. Thermally stimulated currents have been measured experimentally and modeled numerically. To reveal the influence of the single levels, we used the thermal emptying of the traps by fractional heating. Attention is paid to the comparative analysis of the distribution of the parameters of different samples produced and processed by the same technique, contrary to the usual approach of the analysis of a few different samples. The following main conclusions are drawn. First of all, many different levels (from 8 to 12) have been found in the temperature range from 90 K to 300 K in all samples. Their activation energies range from 0.07 up to 0.55 eV, their capture cross-sections are 10^-22–10^-14 cm², and initial occupation is 2×10¹¹–5×10¹⁴ cm^-3. The irradiation with pions does not influence the density of most levels significantly. On the other hand, levels with activation energies of about 0.07–0.11 eV, 0.33–0.36 eV, 0.4–0.42 eV, and 0.48–0.55 eV have been found only in the irradiated samples. Irradiation also increases the inhomogeneity of the crystals, which causes the scattering of the activation energies obtained by fractional heating technique. Received: 13 November 1998 / Accepted: 16 April 1999 / Published online: 4 August 1999