Estimation for the capture cross-sections of surface state on p-Si surface by photovoltaic method

A new method which can nondestructively measure the surface-state density (SSD) D_s and estimate the capture cross-sections (CCS) of surface state σ⁰_n and σ⁻_p on surface of p-type semiconductor crystals is proposed. This method is based on the photovoltage measurements at various temperatures. The photovoltage experiment was carried out with a (1 1 1) p-type Si single crystal (N_A=4.8×10¹⁴ cm ⁻³). Owing to that the surface barrier height φ_BP=0.6421 V and the surface-recombination velocity s_n=9.6×10³ cm s⁻¹ of this sample can be determined, the SSD D_s=1.2×10¹¹ cm⁻² eV⁻¹ can therefore be obtained, furthermore CCS σ⁰_n≈5×10⁻¹⁴ cm² and σ⁻_p≈2×10⁻¹⁰ cm² can also be estimated. These results are consistent with that of related reports obtained by other methods.     

Stability of hydrogen in ScAlMgO4

Hydrogen as ²H was incorporated into ScAlMgO₄ by both ion implantation and by exposure to a plasma at 250°C. In the implanted material diffusion begins at 500°C and most of the hydrogen is lost by ≤ 750°C. This thermal stability for hydrogen retention is considerably lower than for other substrate materials for GaN epilayer growth, such as Al₂O₃ and SiC. There is minimal permeation of ²H from a plasma at 250°C (D_H ≤ 5 × 10⁻¹⁶ cm² s⁻¹) in ScAlMgO₄, and thus unintentional hydrogen incorporation into GaN overlayers should be minimal at typical growth temperatures.     

Schottky barrier height of a new ohmic contact NiSi2 to n-type 6H-SiC

We present a new ohmic contact material NiSi₂ to n-type 6H-SiC with a low specific contact resistance. NiSi₂ films are prepared by annealing the Ni and Si films separately deposited on (0 0 0 1)-oriented 6H-SiC substrates with carrier concentrations (n) ranging from 5.8×10¹⁶ to 2.5×10¹⁹ cm⁻³. The deposited films are annealed at 900 °C for 10 min in a flow of Ar gas containing 5 vol.% H₂ gas. The specific contact resistance of NiSi₂ contact exponentially decreases with increasing carrier concentrations of substrates. NiSi₂ contacts formed on the substrates with n=2.5×10¹⁹ cm⁻³ show a relatively low specific contact resistance with 3.6×10⁻⁶ Ω cm². Schottky barrier height of NiSi₂ to n-type 6H-SiC is estimated to be 0.40±0.02 eV using a theoretical relationship for the carrier concentration dependence of the specific contact resistance.     

CoSi2 ohmic contacts to n-type 6H---SiC

Cobalt disilicide (CoSi₂) ohmic contacts possessing low specific contact resistivity (_c < 3.0 ± 0.4 × 10⁻⁵ ωcm²) to n-type 6H---SiC are reported. The contacts were fabricated via sequential electron-beam evaporation of Co and Si layers followed by a two-step vacuum anealing process at 500 and 900°C. Stochiometry of the contact so formed was confirmed by Rutherford backscattering spectrometry and X-ray diffraction. Specific contact resistivities were obtained via current-voltage (I-V) analysis at temperatures ranging from 25 to 500°C. _c is compared as a function of carrier concentration, current density, temperature and time at elevated temperature.     

Electrical, structural, and optical characterization of free-standing GaN template grown by hydride vapor phase epitaxy

Electrical, structural, and optical properties of a free-standing 200 μm thick n-type GaN template grown by hydride vapor phase epitaxy have been investigated. Hall mobilities of 1100 and 6800 cm²/V s have been obtained at room temperature and 50 K, respectively. Quantitative analysis of acceptor concentration, donor concentration and donor activation energy has been conducted through simultaneous fitting of the temperature dependent Hall mobility and carrier concentration data which led to a donor concentration of 2.10×10¹⁶ cm⁻³ and an acceptor concentration of 4.9×10¹⁵ cm⁻³. The resultant donor activation energy is 18 meV. The analysis indicates that the dominant scattering mechanism at low temperatures is by ionized impurities. The extended defect concentrations on Ga- and N-faces were about 5×10⁵ cm⁻² for the former and about 1×10⁷ cm⁻² for the latter, as revealed by a chemical etch. The full width at half maximum of the symmetric (0 0 0 2) X-ray diffraction peak was 69″ and 160″ for the Ga- and N-faces, respectively. That for the asymmetric (10–14) peak was 103″ and 140″ for Ga- and N-faces, respectively. The donor bound exciton linewidth as measured on the Ga- and N-face (after a chemical etch to remove the damage) is about 1 meV each at 10 K. Instead of the commonly observed yellow band, this sample displayed a green band, which is centered at about 2.45 eV.     

Thin oxide grown on heavily channel-implanted substrate by using a low temperature wafer loading and N2 pre-annealing process

In this paper, we present high integrity thin oxides grown on the channel implanted substrate (3 × 10¹⁷ cm⁻³) and heavily doped substrate (1 × 10²⁰ cm⁻³) by using a low-temperature wafer loading and N₂ pre-annealing process. The presented thin oxide grown on the channel implanted substrate exhibits a very low interface state density (1 × 10¹⁰ cm⁻² eV⁻¹) and a very high intrinsic dielectric breakdown field (15 MV/cm). It also shows a lower charge trapping rate and interface state generation rate than the conventional thermal oxide. For the thin oxide grown on the heavily-doped substrate by using the proposed recipe, the implantation-induced damage close to the silicon surface can be almost annealed out. The presented heavily-doped oxide shows much better dielectric characteristics, such as the dielectric breakdown field and the charge-to-breakdown, as compared to the conventional heavily-doped oxide.     

Process and device characterization of high voltage gallium arsenide P-i-N layers grown by an improved liquid phase epitaxy method

GaAs P-i-N layers with an i-region net doping of less than 10¹² cm⁻³ were grown on P⁺ and N⁺ substrates by a modified liquid phase epitaxy (LPE) method. Doping profiles and structural data obtained by varius characterization techniques are presented and discussed. A P⁺-P-i-N-N⁺ diode with a 25 μm-wide i-region exhibits a breakdown voltage of 1000 V, a t_rr of 50 ns, and reverse current densities (at V_R = 800 V) of − 3 × 10⁻⁶ A/cm² at 25°C and 10⁻² A/cm² at 260° C.     

The physics and fabrication of in situ back-gated (311)A hole gas heterojunctions

This paper reports the fabrication of an in situ back-gated hole gas on the (311)A surface of GaAs. The hole density can be varied from fully depleted to p_s = 2.1 × 10¹¹ cm⁻² with mobilities of up to μ = 1.1 × 10⁶ cm²V⁻¹ s⁻¹. It is seen that for carrier densities down to p_s = 4 × 10¹⁰ cm⁻² the mobility in the [ ] direction is greater than that in the [ ] direction. Using a combination of front- and back-gates we are able to keep the carrier density constant and deform the hole gas wavefunction such that the holes are pushed up against or moved further away from the heterointerface. Thus we are able to separately investigate the various scattering mechanisms that determine the mobility, and compare the experimental data with theoretical calculations based on the shape of the wavefunction.     

On the behaviour of buried oxygen implanted layers in highly doped GaAs

Highly doped GaAs substrate material (doping level 10¹⁸ cm⁻³) has been implanted with 350 keV O⁺ ions with doses of 10¹⁴ – 10¹⁶ cm⁻² to produce high resistivity layers which are stable at high temperatures. LPE growth of flat GaAs epilayers onto the implanted wafers was achieved up to doses of about 1 × 10¹⁵ O⁺/cm² and 5 × 10¹⁵O⁺/cm² for RT and 200°C implants, respectively. N-o-n and p-o-n structures (o: oxygen implanted) were fabricated in which breakdown voltages of up to 15 V were obtained. Examples for application of this isolation technique are shown.     

Interface characteristics of Ge3N4-(n-type) GaAs MIS devices

Passivation of GaAs surfaces was achieved by the deposition of Ge₃N₄ dielectric films at low temperatures. Electrical characteristics of MIS devices were measured to determine the interface parameters. From C-V-f and G-V-f measurements, density of interface states has been obtained as (4–6)×10¹¹ cm⁻² eV⁻¹ at the semiconductor mid-gap. Some inversion charge buildup was seen in the C-V plot although the strong inversion regime is absent. Thermally stimulated current measurements indicate a trap density of 5×10¹⁸−10¹⁹ cm⁻³ in the dielectric film, with their energy level at 0.59 eV.     

Characterization of phosphorus implanted low pressure chemical vapor deposited polycrystalline silicon

Thin (3000–5000Å) low pressure chemically vapor deposited (LPCVD) films of polycrystalline silicon suitable for microelectronics applications have been deposited from silane at 600°C and at a pressure of 0.25 Torr. The films were phosphorus implanted at 150 KeV and electrically characterized with the annealing conditions and film thickness as parameters, over a resistivity range of four orders of magnitude (10³–10⁷Ω/□). Annealing during silox deposition was found to result in a lower film resistivity than annealing done in nitrogen atmosphere. Resistivity measurements as a function of temperature indicate that the electrical activation energy is a linear function of 1/N(N is the doping concentration), changing from 0.056 eV for a doping concentration of 8.9 × 10¹⁸ cm⁻³ to 0.310 eV for doping concentration of 3.3 × 10¹⁸ cm⁻³. The grain boundary trap density was found to have a logarithmically decreasing dependence on the polysilicon thickness, decreasing from 1.3 × 10¹³ cm⁻² for 2850Å polysilicon film to 8.3 × 10¹² cm⁻² for 4500Å polysilicon film.     

Avalanche breakdown voltage of GaAs hyperabrupt junctions

The avalanche breakdown voltage of a GaAs hyperabrupt junction diode is calculated by using unequal ionization rates for electrons and holes, and shown graphically as a function of the parameters which characterize the impurity profile of the diode. The breakdown voltage decreases abruptly at the critical point of the characteristic length L_c which varies in accordance with the impurity concentration N₀ at X = 0. For example, the critical length L_c is 7.7 × 10⁻⁶ cm and 3.3 × 10⁻⁵ cm for N₀ = 1 × 10¹⁸ cm⁻³ and 1 × 10¹⁷ cm⁻³, respectively. The breakdown voltage of a diode with extremely short or long characteristic length can be estimated from the results for corresponding abrupt junctions. The experimental results agree well with the calculated ones.     

Characteristics of polycrystalline films grown by ultrahigh vacuum chemical vapor deposition system

In situ boron-doped polycrystalline Si_1−xGe_x (poly-Si_1−xGe_x) films deposited by ultrahigh vacuum chemical vapor deposition (UHV/CVD) system were characterized. Optimum fitted values of grain boundary trap state densities, 4.0 × 10¹² cm⁻² and 4.9 × 10¹² cm⁻² were obtained for poly-Si and poly-Si_0.79Ge_0.21, respectively. The extracted average carrier concentration in the grain agrees with secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) analysis. In turn, we found that these films are suitable Hall elements to sense magnetic field. Experimental results show that the sensitivity decreased with the increasing input current, which can be well explained using the thermionic emission theory. Finally, we use these films to fabricate thin film transistors.     

Reproducibility of growing AlGaN/GaN high-electron-mobility-transistor heterostructures by molecular-beam epitaxy

High-quality GaN/AlGaN high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMT) characterized by room temperature mobilities of 1000 cm² V⁻¹ s⁻¹ and sheet electron densities in the range of 3×10¹²–2×10¹³ cm⁻² have been grown by reactive molecular-beam epitaxy on insulating C-doped GaN template layers. Growth data and mobility values resulting from over 50 HEMT growth experiments on 2 in. diameter sapphire wafers are presented to show the remarkable overall high yield and reproducibility of the HEMT structures grown by this method. The use of insulating C-doped GaN buffer layers has greatly increased reproducibility of the device structures by ensuring device isolation through controlled carbon doping. Moreover, an undoped GaN channel layer of remarkably low defect density and high mobility can be grown on the C-doped GaN template with high reproducibility. Precise control of the growth temperature was key to achieving the high quality and reproducibility of the structures.     

Low-operation voltage of InGaN-GaN light-emitting diodes withSi-doped In0.3Ga0.7N/GaN short-period superlatticetunneling contact layer

InGaN/GaN multiple-quantum-well light-emitting diode (LED) structures including a Si-doped In_0.23Ga_0.77N/GaN short-period superlattice (SPS) tunneling contact were grown by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy. In_0.23Ga_0.77N/GaN(n⁺)-GaN(p) tunneling junction, the low-resistivity n⁺-In_0.3Ga_0.77 N/GaN SPS instead of high-resistivity p-type GaN as a top contact layer, allows the reverse-biased tunnel junction to form an “ohmic” contact. In this structure, the sheet electron concentration of Si-doped In_0.23Ga_0.77N/GaN SPS is around 1×10¹⁴/cm², leading to an averaged electron concentration of around 1×10²⁰/cm³. This high-conductivity SPS would lead to a low-resistivity ohmic contact (Au/Ni/SPS) of LED. Experimental results indicate that the LEDs can achieve a lower operation voltage of around 2.95 V, i.e., smaller than conventional devices which have an operation voltage of about 3.8 V     

Impact of nitrogen (N2+) implantation intopolysilicon gate on thermal stability of cobalt silicide formed onpolysilicon gate

A novel process which uses N₂⁺ implantation into polysilicon gates to suppress the agglomeration of CoSi₂ in polycide gated MOS devices is presented. The thermal stability of CoSi₂/polysilicon stacked layers can be dramatically improved by using N₂⁺ implantation into polysilicon. The sheet resistance of the samples without N₂⁺ implantation starts to increase after 875°C RTA for 30 s, while the sheet resistance of CoSi₂ film is not increased at all after 950 and 1000°C RTA for 30 s if the dose of nitrogen is increased up to 2×10¹⁵ cm^-2 and 6×10¹⁵ cm², respectively, and TEM photographs show that the agglomeration of CoSi₂ film is completely suppressed. It is found that the transformation to CoSi₂ from CoSi is impeded by N₂⁺ implantation such that the grain size of CoSi₂ with N₂⁺ implantation is much smaller than that without N₂⁺ implantation. As a result, the thermal stability of CoSi₂ is significantly improved by N₂⁺ implantation into polysilicon     

Optoelectronic properties of Zn0.52Se0.48/Si Schottky diodes

Zn_0.52Se_0.48/Si Schottky diodes are fabricated by depositing zinc selenide (Zn_0.52Se_0.48) thin films onto Si(1 0 0) substrates by vacuum evaporation technique. Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS) analysis shows that the deposited films are nearly stoichiometric in nature. X-ray diffractogram of the films reveals the preferential orientation of the films along (1 1 1) direction. Structural parameters such as crystallite size (D), dislocation density (δ), strain (ε), and the lattice parameter are calculated as 29.13 nm, 1.187 × 10⁻¹⁵ lin/m², 1.354 × 10⁻³ lin⁻² m⁻⁴ and 5.676 × 10⁻¹⁰ m respectively. From the I–V measurements on the Zn_0.52Se_0.48/p-Si Schottky diodes, ideality and diode rectification factors are evaluated, as 1.749 (305 K) and 1.04 × 10⁴ (305 K) respectively. The built-in potential, effective carrier concentration (N_A) and barrier height were also evaluated from C–V measurement, which are found to be 1.02 V, 5.907 × 10¹⁵ cm⁻³ and 1.359 eV respectively.     

Intersubband lifetimes in Si/SiGe quantum wells

In the present work we report the first measurement of intersubband lifetimes in Si/Si_1−xGe_x quantum well samples. We have determined T₁ by a time resolved pump and probe experiment using the far infrared picosecond free electron laser source FELIX at Rijnhuizen, the Netherlands. In a sample with a well width of 50 Å and a sheet density of 2.1 × 10¹² cm⁻² we find a lifetime of 30 ps while 20 ps is observed for a density of 1.1 × 10¹² cm⁻² and a well width of 75 Å. We discuss acoustic phonon, as well as optical phonon intersubband scattering as possible limiting processes for the observed lifetimes in Si/SiGe and GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells.     

Determination of the LO-phonon and Γ→L intervalley scattering time in GaAs from hot electron luminescence spectroscopy

Both the LO-phonon scattering time and the Γ→L intervalley scattering time for electrons in the conduction band of GaAs are of fundamental importance, and they are needed for the modelling of devices. We measure the steady state distribution of hot electrons in lightly p-doped bulk GaAs under carrier densities of 10¹³–10¹⁴cm⁻³, which is orders of magnitude lower than in pulsed laser experiments. Using a 16×16 k.p Hamiltonian and taking into account the transition matrix elements in a dipole model, we determine the hot electron lifetime from comparison with the experimentally found lifetime broadening. For electrons with a kinetic energy of 100meV to 300meV we obtain τ_LO=(132±10)fs. We also determine the Γ→L intervalley separation as E_ΓL=(300±10)meV. We find Γ→L scattering times around 150fs to 200fs, corresponding to a value for the associated deformation potential of D_ΓL=(9.4±1.5)×10⁸eV/cm.     

n-Channel AlSb/GaSb modulation-doped field-effect transistors

We report the first fabrication of a GaSb n-channel modulation-doped field-effect transistor (MODFET) grown by molecular beam epitaxy. The modulation-doped structure exhibits a room temperature Hall mobility of 3140 cm² V⁻¹ s⁻¹ and 77 K value of 16000 cm² V⁻¹ s⁻¹, with corresponding sheet carrier densities of 1.3 × 10¹² cm⁻² and 1.2 × 10¹² cm⁻². Devices with 1 μm gate length yield transconductances of 180 mS mm⁻¹ and output of 5 mS mm⁻¹ at 85 K. The device characteristics indicate that electron transport in the channel occurs primarily via the L-valley of GaSb above 85 K. The effective electron saturation velocity is estimated to be 0.9 × 10⁷ cm s⁻¹. Calculations show that a complementary circuit consisting of GaSb n- and p-channel MODFETs can provide at least two times improvement in performance over AlGaAs/GaAs complementary circuits.