Publications

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Here, we present a low resistance, straightforward planar ohmic contact for Al_0.45Ga_0.55N/Al_0.3Ga_0.7N high electron mobility transistors. Five metal stacks (a/Al/b/Au; a = Ti, Zr, V, Nb/Ti; b = Ni, Mo, V) were evaluated at three individual annealing temperatures (850, 900, and 950°C). The Ti/Al/Ni/Au achieved the lowest specific contact resistance at a 900°C anneal temperature. Transmission electron microscopy analysis revealed a metal-semiconductor interface of Ti-Al-Au for an ohmic (900°C anneal) and a Schottky (850°C anneal) Ti/Al/Ni/Au stack. HEMTs were fabricated using the optimized recipe with resulting contacts that had room-temperature specific contact resistances of ρ_c = 2.5 × 10^-5 Ω cm², sheet resistances of R_SH = 3.9 kΩ/$\blacksquare$, and maximum current densities of 75 mA/mm (at VGATE of 2 V). Electrical measurements from -50 to 200°C had decreasing specific contact resistance and increasing sheet resistance, with increasing temperature. These contacts enabled state-of-the-art performance of Al_0.45Ga_0.55N/Al_0.3Ga_0.7N HEMTs.

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Emerging ultrawide bandgap semiconductor materials are logical candidates for applications that exploit the large critical electric field (EC) associated with these devices. For semiconductor devices, EC scales approximately as Eg2 5 [1]. With a 25% larger bandgap and an approximately 73% larger EC than GaN, Al0.3Ga0.7N-channel high election mobility transistors (HEMTs) might be viable candidates for harsh environment electronics or short wavelength photo-transistors. In either case, transistor quality factors such as minimal off-state leakage currents and subthreshold slope factor are important metrics.

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Due to the ultra-wide bandgap of Al-rich AlGaN, up to 5.8 eV for the structures in this study, obtaining low resistance ohmic contacts is inherently difficult to achieve. A comparative study of three different fabrication schemes is presented for obtaining ohmic contacts to an Al-rich AlGaN channel. Schottky-like behavior was observed for several different planar metallization stacks (and anneal temperatures), in addition to a dry-etch recess metallization contact scheme on Al0.85Ga0.15N/Al0.66Ga0.34N. However, a dry etch recess followed by n+-GaN regrowth fabrication process is reported as a means to obtain lower contact resistivity ohmic contacts on a Al0.85Ga0.15N/Al0.66Ga0.34N heterostructure. Specific contact resistivity of 5 × 10−3 Ω cm2 was achieved after annealing Ti/Al/Ni/Au metallization.

AlGaN:Si epilayers with uniform Al compositions of 60%, 70%, 80%, and 90% were grown by metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy along with a compositionally graded, unintentionally doped (UID) AlGaN epilayer with the Al composition varying linearly between 80% and 100%. The resistivity of AlGaN:Si with a uniform composition increased significantly for the Al content of 80% and greater, whereas the graded UID-AlGaN film exhibited resistivity equivalent to 60% and 70% AlGaN:Si owing to polarization-induced doping. Deep level defect studies of both types of AlGaN epilayers were performed to determine why the electronic properties of uniform-composition AlGaN:Si degraded with increased Al content, while the electronic properties of graded UID-AlGaN did not. The deep level density of uniform-composition AlGaN:Si increased monotonically and significantly with the Al mole fraction. Conversely, graded-UID AlGaN had the lowest deep level density of all the epilayers despite containing the highest Al composition. These findings indicate that Si doping is an impetus for point defect incorporation in AlGaN that becomes stronger with the increasing Al content. However, the increase in deep level density with the Al content in uniform-composition AlGaN:Si was small compared to the increase in resistivity. This implies that the primary cause for increasing resistivity in AlGaN:Si with the increasing Al mole fraction is not compensation by deep levels but rather increasing activation energy for the Si dopant. The graded UID-AlGaN films maintained low resistivity because they do not rely on thermal ionization of Si dopants.

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Devices based on GaN have shown great promise for high power electronics, including their potential use as radiation tolerant components. An important step to realizing high power diodes is the design and implementation of an edge termination to mitigate field crowding, which can lead to premature breakdown. However, little is known about the effects of radiation on edge termination functionality. We experimentally examine the effects of proton irradiation on multiple field ring edge terminations in high power vertical GaN pin diodes using in operando imaging with electron beam induced current (EBIC). We find that exposure to proton irradiation influences field spreading in the edge termination as well as carrier transport near the anode. By using depth-dependent EBIC measurements of hole diffusion length in homoepitaxial n-GaN we demonstrate that the carrier transport effect is due to a reduction in hole diffusion length following proton irradiation.

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AlGaN-channel high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) are among a class of ultra wide-bandgap transistors that have a bandgap greater than ∼3.4 eV, beyond that of GaN and SiC, and are promising candidates for RF and power applications. Long-channel AlxGa1-xN HEMTs with x = 0.3 in the channel have been built and evaluated across the −50◦C to +200◦C temperature range. Room temperature drain current of 70 mA/mm, absent of gate leakage, and with a modest −1.3 V threshold voltage was measured. A very large Ion/Ioff current ratio, greater than 108 was demonstrated over the entire temperature range, indicating that off-state leakage is below the measurement limit even at 200◦C. Combined with near ideal subthreshold slope factor that is just 1.3× higher than the theoretical limit across the temperature range, the excellent leakage properties are an attractive characteristic for high temperature operation.

“Ultra” wide-bandgap semiconductors are an emerging class of materials with bandgaps greater than that of gallium nitride (EG > 3.4 eV) that may ultimately benefit a wide range of applications, including switching power conversion, pulsed power, RF electronics, UV optoelectronics, and quantum information. This paper describes the progress made to date at Sandia National Laboratories to develop one of these materials, aluminum gallium nitride, targeted toward high-power devices. The advantageous material properties of AlGaN are reviewed, questions concerning epitaxial growth and defect physics are covered, and the processing and performance of vertical- and lateral-geometry devices are described. The paper concludes with an assessment of the outlook for AlGaN, including outstanding research opportunities and a brief discussion of other potential applications.

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We discuss the engineering of p-AlGaN cladding layers for achieving efficient tunnel-injected III-Nitride ultraviolet light emitting diodes (UV LEDs) in the UV-A spectral range. We show that the capacitance-voltage measurements can be used to estimate the compensation and doping in the p-AlGaN layers located between the multi-quantum well region and the tunnel junction layer. By increasing the p-type doping concentration to overcome the background compensation, on-wafer external quantum efficiency and wall-plug efficiency of 3.37% and 1.62%, respectively, were achieved for the tunnel-injected UV LEDs emitting at 325 nm. We also show that interband tunneling hole injection can be used to realize UV LEDs without any acceptor doping. The work discussed here provides new understanding of hole doping and transport in AlGaN-based UV LEDs and demonstrates the excellent performance of tunnel-injected LEDs for the UV-A wavelength range.

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Electrical performance and characterization of deep levels in vertical GaN P-i-N diodes grown on low threading dislocation density (∼104 - 106cm-2) bulk GaN substrates are investigated. The lightly doped n drift region of these devices is observed to be highly compensated by several prominent deep levels detected using deep level optical spectroscopy at Ec-2.13, 2.92, and 3.2 eV. A combination of steady-state photocapacitance and lighted capacitance-voltage profiling indicates the concentrations of these deep levels to be Nt = 3 × 1012, 2 × 1015, and 5 × 1014cm-3, respectively. The Ec-2.92 eV level is observed to be the primary compensating defect in as-grown n-type metal-organic chemical vapor deposition GaN, indicating this level acts as a limiting factor for achieving controllably low doping. The device blocking voltage should increase if compensating defects reduce the free carrier concentration of the n drift region. Understanding the incorporation of as-grown and native defects in thick n-GaN is essential for enabling large VBD in the next-generation wide-bandgap power semiconductor devices. Thus, controlling the as-grown defects induced by epitaxial growth conditions is critical to achieve blocking voltage capability above 5 kV.

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Ultra violet light emitting diodes (UV LEDs) face critical limitations in both the injection efficiency and the light extraction efficiency due to the resistive and absorbing p-type contact layers. In this work, we investigate the design and application of polarization engineered tunnel junctions for ultra-wide bandgap AlGaN (Al mole fraction >50%) materials towards highly efficient UV LEDs. We demonstrate that polarization-induced three dimensional charge is beneficial in reducing tunneling barriers especially for high composition AlGaN tunnel junctions. The design of graded tunnel junction structures could lead to low tunneling resistance below 10-3 Ω cm2 and low voltage consumption below 1 V (at 1 kA/cm2) for high composition AlGaN tunnel junctions. Experimental demonstration of 292 nm emission was achieved through non-equilibrium hole injection into wide bandgap materials with bandgap energy larger than 4.7 eV, and detailed modeling of tunnel junctions shows that they can be engineered to have low resistance and can enable efficient emitters in the UV-C wavelength range.

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The performance and efficiency of power devices depends on both high breakdown voltage and low on-state resistance. For semiconductor devices, the critical electric field (EC) affecting breakdown scales approximately as Eg25 [1], making the wide bandgap semiconductor materials logical candidates for high voltage power electronics devices. In particular, AlGaN alloys approaching AlN with its 6.2 eV bandgap have an estimated EC approaching 5x that of GaN. This factor makes AlN/AlGaN high election mobility transistors (HEMTs) extremely interesting as candidate power electronic devices. Until now, such devices have been hampered, ostensibly due to the difficulty of making Ohmic contacts to AlGaN alloys with high Al composition. With the use of an AlN barrier etch and regrowth procedure for Ohmic contact formation, we are now able to report on an AlN/AlGaN HEMT with 85% Al.

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An AlN barrier high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) based on the AlN/Al_0.85Ga_0.15N heterostructure was grown, fabricated, and electrically characterized, thereby extending the range of Al composition and bandgap for AlGaN channel HEMTs. An etch and regrowth procedure was implemented for source and drain contact formation. A breakdown voltage of 810 V was achieved without a gate insulator or field plate. Excellent gate leakage characteristics enabled a high I_on/I_off current ratio greater than 10⁷ and an excellent subthreshold slope of 75 mV/decade. A large Schottky barrier height of 1.74 eV contributed to these results. In conclusion, the room temperature voltage-dependent 3-terminal off-state drain current was adequately modeled with Frenkel-Poole emission.

Demonstration of Al0_0.3Ga_0.7N PN diodes grown with breakdown voltages in excess of 1600 V is reported. The total epilayer thickness is 9.1 μm and was grown by metal-organic vapour-phase epitaxy on 1.3-mm-thick sapphire in order to achieve crack-free structures. A junction termination edge structure was employed to control the lateral electric fields. A current density of 3.5 kA/cm² was achieved under DC forward bias and a reverse leakage current <3 nA was measured for voltages <1200 V. The differential on-resistance of 16 mΩ cm² is limited by the lateral conductivity of the n-type contact layer required by the front-surface contact geometry of the device. An effective critical electric field of 5.9 MV/cm was determined from the epilayer properties and the reverse current–voltage characteristics. To our knowledge, this is the first aluminium gallium nitride (AlGaN)-based PN diode exhibiting a breakdown voltage in excess of 1 kV. Finally, we note that a Baliga figure of merit (V_br²/R_spec,on) of 150 MW/cm² found is the highest reported for an AlGaN PN diode and illustrates the potential of larger-bandgap AlGaN alloys for high-voltage devices.

Control of electric fields with edge terminations is critical to maximize the performance of high-power electronic devices. While a variety of edge termination designs have been proposed, the optimization of such designs is challenging due to many parameters that impact their effectiveness. While modeling has recently allowed new insight into the detailed workings of edge terminations, the experimental verification of the design effectiveness is usually done through indirect means, such as the impact on breakdown voltages. In this letter, we use scanning photocurrent microscopy to spatially map the electric fields in vertical GaN p-n junction diodes in operando. We reveal the complex behavior of seemingly simple edge termination designs, and show how the device breakdown voltage correlates with the electric field behavior. Modeling suggests that an incomplete compensation of the p-type layer in the edge termination creates a bilayer structure that leads to these effects, with variations that significantly impact the breakdown voltage.

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The efficiency of ultraviolet (UV) light-emitting diodes (LEDs) is critically limited by absorption losses in p-type and metal layers. In this work, surface-roughening-based light extraction structures were combined with tunneling-based top-layer contacts to achieve highly efficient top-side light extraction in UV LEDs. By using self-assembled Ni nanoclusters as an etch mask, the top surface-roughened LEDs were found to enhance the external quantum efficiency by over 40% for UV LEDs with a peak emission wavelength of 326 nm. The method described here can be used for fabricating highly efficient UV LEDs without the need for complex manufacturing techniques such as flip chip bonding.

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Solar-blind photodetection and photoconductive gain >50 corresponding to a responsivity >8 A/W were observed for β-Ga2O3 Schottky photodiodes. The origin of photoconductive gain was investigated. Current-voltage characteristics of the diodes did not indicate avalanche breakdown, which excludes carrier multiplication by impact ionization as the source for gain. However, photocapacitance measurements indicated a mechanism for hole localization for above-band gap illumination, suggesting self-trapped hole formation. Comparison of photoconductivity and photocapacitance spectra indicated that self-trapped hole formation coincides with the strong photoconductive gain. It is concluded that self-trapped hole formation near the Schottky diode lowers the effective Schottky barrier in reverse bias, producing photoconductive gain. Ascribing photoconductive gain to an inherent property like self-trapping of holes can explain the operation of a variety of β-Ga2O3 photodetectors.

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Vertical GaN power diodes with a bilayer edge termination (ET) are demonstrated. The GaN p-n junction is formed on a low threading dislocation defect density (104 - 105 cm-2) GaN substrate, and has a 15-μm-thick n-type drift layer with a free carrier concentration of 5 × 1015 cm-3. The ET structure is formed by N implantation into the p+-GaN epilayer just outside the p-type contact to create compensating defects. The implant defect profile may be approximated by a bilayer structure consisting of a fully compensated layer near the surface, followed by a 90% compensated (p) layer near the n-type drift region. These devices exhibit avalanche breakdown as high as 2.6 kV at room temperature. Simulations show that the ET created by implantation is an effective way to laterally distribute the electric field over a large area. This increases the voltage at which impact ionization occurs and leads to the observed higher breakdown voltages.

We report on the realization of a GaN high voltage vertical p-n diode operating at > 3.9 kV breakdown with a specific on-resistance < 0.9 mΩ.cm². Diodes achieved a forward current of 1 A for on-wafer, DC measurements, corresponding to a current density > 1.4 kA/cm². An effective critical electric field of 3.9 MV/cm was estimated for the devices from analysis of the forward and reverse current-voltage characteristics. Furthermore this suggests that the fundamental limit to the GaN critical electric field is significantly greater than previously believed.

Electrical performance and defect characterization of vertical GaN P-i-N diodes before and after irradiation with 2.5 MeV protons and neutrons is investigated. Devices exhibit increase in specific on-resistance following irradiation with protons and neutrons, indicating displacement damage introduces defects into the p-GaN and n- drift regions of the device that impact on-state device performance. The breakdown voltage of these devices, initially above 1700 V, is observed to decrease only slightly for particle fluence < {10{13}} hbox{cm}-2. The unipolar figure of merit for power devices indicates that while the on-resistance and breakdown voltage degrade with irradiation, vertical GaN P-i-Ns remain superior to the performance of the best available, unirradiated silicon devices and on-par with unirradiated modern SiC-based power devices.