The behavior of H in p-GaN(Mg) at temperatures >400°C is modeled by using energies and vibration frequencies from density-functional theory to parameterize transport and reaction equations. Predictions agree semiquantitatively with experiment for the solubility, uptake, and release of the H when account is taken of a surface barrier.

Transmission electron microscopy has been used to study defects formed in Mg-doped GaN crystals. Three types of crystals have been studied: bulk crystals grown by a high pressure and high temperature process with Mg added to the Ga solution and two types of crystals grown by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) where Mg was either delta-doped or continuously doped. Spontaneous ordering was observed in bulk crystals. The ordering consists of Mg rich planar defects on basal planes separated by 10.4 nm and occurs only for growth in the N to Ga polar direction (000 N polarity). These planar defects exhibit the characteristics of stacking faults with a shift vector of a 1/3 [1 00] +c/2 but some other features identify these defects as inversion domains. Different type of defects were formed on the opposite site of the crystal (Ga to N polar direction), where the growth rate is also an order of magnitude faster compared to the growth with N-polarity. These defects are three-dimensional: pyramidal and rectangular, empty inside with Mg segregation on internal surfaces. The same types of defects seen for the two growth polarities in the bulk crystals were also observed in the MOCVD grown GaN samples with Mg delta doping, but were not observed in the crystals where Mg was added continuously.

Ion implantation is used to investigate the spectroscopic properties of Mg, Be, and C acceptors in GaN. Activation of these species is studied using low temperature photoluminescence (PL). Low dose implants into high quality undoped hydride vapor phase epitaxial (HVPE) material are used in conjunction with high temperature (1300 °C) rapid thermal anneals to obtain high quality spectra. Dramatic, dose-dependent evidence of Mg acceptor activation is observed without any co-implants, including a strong, sharp neutral Mg acceptor-bound exciton and strong donor-acceptor pair peaks. Variable temperature measurements reveal a band-to-acceptor transition, whose energy yields an optical binding energy of 224 meV. Be and C implants yield only slight evidence of shallow acceptor-related features and produce dose-correlated 2.2 eV PL, attributed to residual implantation damage. Their poor optical activation is tentatively attributed to insufficient vacancy production by these lighter ions. Clear evidence is obtained for donor-Zn acceptor pair and acceptor-bound exciton peaks in Zn-doped HVPE material.

Ti/Pt/Au metallization on p-type GaN/AlxGa1−xN (x=0.10 and 0.20) superlattices (SL) were investigated as ohmic contacts. Current-voltage and specific contact resistance measurements indicate enhanced p-type doping in the superlattice structures compared to that in GaN. Ti/Pt/Au is shown to be an effective ohmic metallization scheme on p-type GaN/AlxGa1−xN superlattices. A specific contact resistance of Rc = 4.6×10−4 ω-cm2 is achieved for unalloyed Ti/Pt/Au on GaN/Al0.2Ga0.8N SL. This is reduced to 1.3×10−4 ω-cm2 after annealing for 5 minutes at 300 °C.

Two-step surface-treatment is introduced to obtain low resistance Pt contacts to p-type GaN. The first step is performed after the mesa etching process using buffered oxide etch (BOE) and ammonium sulfide [(NH4)2Sx]. This is followed by the second step using BOE. The Pt contact, which was treated sequentially using ultrasonically boiled BOE (10 min) and boiled (NH4)2Sx (10 min), produces a specific contact resistance of 3.0 (±3.8)×10−5 Ωcm2. However, the contact, that was simply BOE-treated, yields 3.1 (±1.1)×10−2 Ωcm2. This indicates that the two-step surface treatment is promising technique for obtaining high quality ohmic contacts to p-GaN. Investigation of the electronic transport mechanisms using current-voltage-temperature (I-V-T) data indicates that thermionic field emission is dominant in the surface-treated Pt contacts.

Defects can be conveniently categorized into three types: point, line, and areal. In GaN, the important point defects are vacancies and interstitials; the line defects are threading dislocations; and the areal defects are stacking faults. We have used electron irradiation to produce point defects, and temperature-dependent Hall-effect (TDH) and deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) measurements to study them. The TDH investigation has identified two point defects, an 0.06-eV donor and a deep acceptor, thought to be the N vacancy and interstitial, respectively. The DLTS study has found two point-defect electron traps, at 0.06 eV and 0.9 eV, respectively; the 0.06-eV trap actually has two components, with different capture kinetics. With respect to line defects, the DLTS spectrum in as-grown GaN includes an 0.45-eV electron trap, which has the characteristics of a dislocation, and the TDH measurements show that threading-edge dislocations are acceptor-like in n-type GaN. Finally, in samples grown by the hydride vapor phase technique, TDH measurements indicate a strongly n-type region at the GaN/Al2O3 interface, which may be associated with stacking faults. All of the defects discussed above can have an influence on the dc and/or ac conductivity of GaN.

The status of understanding of the behavior of hydrogen in GaN and related materials is reviewed. In particular, we discuss the amount of residual hydrogen in MOCVD-grown device structures such as heterojunction bipolar transistors, thyristors and p-i-n diodes intended for high power, high temperature applications. In these structures, the residual hydrogen originating from the growth precursors decorates Mg-doped layers and AlGaN/GaN interfaces. There is a significant difference in the diffusion characteristics and thermal stability of implanted hydrogen between n- and p-GaN, due to the stronger affinity of hydrogen to pair with acceptor dopants and possibly to the difference in H2 formation probability.

We have used ion channeling to examine the lattice configuration of deuterium in Mg doped GaN grown by MOCVD. The deuterium is introduced by exposure to gas phase or ECR plasmas. A density functional approach including lattice relaxation, was used to calculate total energies for various locations and charge states of hydrogen in the wurtzite Mg doped GaN lattice. Results of channeling measurements are compared with channeling simulations for hydrogen at lattice locations predicted by density functional theory.

The near-surface (400-500Å) of p-GaN exposed to high density plasmas is found to become more compensated through the introduction of shallow donors. At high ion fluxes or ion energies there can be type-conversion of this surface region. Two different methods for removal of the damaged surface were investigated; wet etching in KOH, which produced self-limiting etch depths or thermal annealing under N2 which largely restored the initial electrical properties.

We have shown that Zr-based metallization can effectively remove hydrogen from the p-type GaN subsurface, which eventually leads to the formation of an ohmic contact. As the release of hydrogen starts at ∼900°C, the thermal stability of the contact system is of particular importance. The remarkable thermal behavior of the ZrN/ZrB2 metallization is associated to the microstructure of each individual Zr-based compound, as well as to the interfacial crystalline accommodation.

In this paper we report on the fabrication and characterization of GaN diodes (Schottky and p-n junctions) grown by plasma assisted MBE. We observed that Schottky diodes improve both in reverse as well as forward bias when deposited on 5 μm thick HVPE n+-GaN/sapphire instead of bare sapphire substrates. These improvements are attributed to the reduction of disloctions in the MBE homoepitaxially grown GaN. Similar benefits are observed in the reverse bias of the p-n junctions which according to EBIC measurements are attributed to the reduction of etch pits in the MBE grown p-GaN.

Lateral and vertical electron transport parameters were investigated in lightly doped n-GaN films, grown by MBE. Diodes were fabricated by forming Schottky barriers on n−-GaN films using a mesa-etched vertical geometry. Doping concentrations and barrier heights were determined, from C-V measurements, to be 8-9×1016 cm−3 and 0.95-1.0 eV respectively. Reverse saturation current densities were measured to be in the 1-10×10−9 A/cm2 range. Using the diffusion theory of Schottky barriers, vertical mobility values were determined to be 950 cm2/V-s. Lateral mobility in films grown under similar conditions was determined by Hall effect measurements to be 150-200 cm2/V-s. The significant increase in mobility for vertical transport is attributed to reduction in electron scattering by charged dislocations.

We report on the fabrication of device-quality AlN heterostructures grown on SiC for high-temperature electronic devices. The AlN films were grown by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) at substrate temperatures ranging from 25 °C (room temperature) to 1000 °C. The as-grown films were investigated using x-ray diffraction, Rutherford backscattering specttroscopy, ion channeling, atomic force microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. The AlN films grown above 700 °C were highly c-axis oriented with rocking curve FWHM of 5 to 6 arc-min. The ion channeling minimum yields near the surface region for the AlN films were ∼2 to 4%, indicating their high degree of crystallinity. TEM studies indicated that AlN films were epitaxial and single crystalline in nature with a large number of stacking faults as a results of lattice mismatch and growth induced defects. The surface roughness for the films was about 0.5 nm, which is close to the unit cell height of the AlN. Epitaxial TiN ohmic contacts were also developed on SiC, GaN, and AlN by in-situ PLD. Epitaxial TiN/AlN/SiC MIS capacitors with gate areas of 4 * 10−4 cm2 were fabricated, and high-temperature current-voltage (I-V) characteristics were studied up to 450 °C. We have measured leakage current densities of low 10−8 A/cm2 at room temperature, and have mid 10−3 A/cm2 at 450°C under a field of 2 MV/cm.

GaN-based metal-ferroelectric-semiconductor (MFS) structure has been fabricated by using ferroelectric Pb(Zr0.53Ti0.47)O3 (PZT) instead of conventional oxides as gate insulators. The GaN and PZT films in the MFS structures have been characterized by various methods such as photoluminescence (PL), wide-angle X-ray diffraction (XRD) and high-resolution X-ray diffraction (HRXRD). The Electric properties of GaN MFS structure with different oxide thickness have been characterized by high-frequency C-V measurement. When the PZT films are as thick as 1 μm, the GaN active layers can approach inversion under the bias of 15V, which can not be observed in the traditional GaN MOS structures. When the PZT films are about 100 nm, the MFS structures can approach inversion just under 5V. All the marked improvements of C-V behaviors in GaN MFS structures are mainly attributed to the high dielectric constant and large polarization of the ferroelectric gate oxide.

Acceptor (Mg)-doped AlGaN/GaN heterostructures were grown via MOVPE and compared to similarly doped GaN standard films grown in the same reactor. Chemical analysis of the films, via secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS), revealed comparable Mg concentrations of ∼2×1019 atoms/cm3 in all films. The Mg-doped GaN standard sample had a sheet conductance of 7-μS compared to a sheet conductance of 20-μS for an AlGaN/GaN heterostructure. The sheet conductance of the AlGaN/GaN heterostructures was higher due to piezoelectric acceptor doping and modulation doping effects in addition to conventional Mg acceptor doping.

The low-frequency noise in GaN-based Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Heterostructure Field Effect Transistors (MOS-HFETs) and HFETs on sapphire and n-SiC substrates were studied. Hooge parameter at zero gate bias was calculated about 8 × 10−4 for both types of the devices. The AlGaN/GaN MOS-HFETs exhibited extremely low gate leakage current and much lower noise at both positive and negative gate biases. These features demonstrate the high quality of the SiO2/AlGaN heterointerface and feasibility of this technology for high-power microwave transmitter and high-power, high-temperature switches.

An AlxGa1−xN/GaN two-dimensional electron gas structure with x = 0.13 deposited by molecular beam epitaxy on a GaN layer grown by organometallic vapor phase epitaxy on a sapphire substrate was characterized. Hall effect measurements gave a sheet electron concentration of 5.1×1012 cm−2 and a mobility of 1.9 × 104 cm2/Vs at 10 K. Mobility spectrum analysis showed single-carrier transport and negligible parallel conduction at low temperatures. The sheet carrier concentrations determined from Shubnikov-de Haas magnetoresistance oscillations were in good agreement with the Hall data. The electron effective mass was determined to be 0.215±0.006 m0 based on the temperature dependence of the amplitude of Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations. The quantum lifetime was about one-fifth of the transport lifetime of 2.3 × 10−12 s.

High quality Al0.25Ga0.75N/GaN modulation-doped heterojunction field-effect transistor (MOD-HFET) structures grown on sapphire substrates with high sheet carrier density and mobility products (nsμ > 1016/Vs at room temperature) have been grown by metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). The optimized structures were achieved by varying structural parameters, including the AlGaN spacer layer thickness, the Si-doped AlGaN barrier layer thickness, the Si-doping concentration, and the growth pressure. In these structures, the persistent photoconductivity (PPC) effect associated with the two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) system was invariantly observed. As a consequence, the characteristic parameters of the 2DEG were sensitive to light and the sensitivity was associated with permanent photoinduced increases in the 2DEG carrier mobility (μ) and sheet carrier density (ns). However, we observed that the magnitude of the PPC and hence the photoinduced instability associated with these heterostructures were a strong function of only one parameter, the product of ns and μ, which is the most important parameter for the HFET device design. For a fixed excitation photon dose, the ratio of the low temperature PPC to the dark conductivity level was observed to decrease from 200% to 3% as the nsμ (300 K) product was increased from 0.048 × 1016/Vs to 1.4 × 1016/Vs. Based on our studies, we suggest that the magnitude of the low temperature PPC can be used as a sensitive probe for monitoring the electronic quality of the AlGaN/GaN HFET structures.

The output characteristics, cutoff frequency, breakdown voltage and the transconductance of wurtzite and zincblende phase GaN MESFETs have been calculated using a self-consistent, full band Monte Carlo simulation. It is found that the calculated breakdown voltage for the wurtzite device is considerably higher than that calculated for a comparable GaN zincblende phase device. The zincblende device is calculated to have a higher transconductance and cutoff frequency than the wurtzite device. The higher breakdown voltage of the wurtzite phase device is attributed to the higher density of electronic states for this phase compared to the zincblende phase. The higher cutoff frequency and transconductance of the zincblende phase GaN device is attributed to more appreciable electron velocity overshoot for this phase compared to that for the wurtzite phase. The maximum cutoff frequency and transconductance of a 0.1 μm gate-length zincblende GaN MESFET are calculated to be 220GHz and 210 mS/mm, respectively. The corresponding quantities for the wurtzite GaN device are calculated to be 160GHz and 158 mS/mm.

A new model is used to examine the DC output characteristics of AlGaN/GaN heterostructure field effect transistors. The model is based on the charge-control/gradual-channel approximation and takes into account the non-linear current vs. voltage characteristics of the ungated AlGaN/GaN heterostructure channel regions. The model also includes thermal effects associated with device self-heating. For the power dissipation levels considered for many applications, the thermal degradation of the carrier drift velocity is shown to cause a negative output conductance in saturation. The temperature is incorporated self-consistently into the model through the field and temperature dependent mobility obtained from Monte Carlo transport simulations for electron transport in GaN. Calculated results presented for the DC output characteristics of several AlGaN/GaN field effect transistors show a strong dependence on the thermal properties of the substrate material. The substrate materials considered in this work are sapphire, SiC, AlN, and GaN.