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Dislocations as quantum wires: Buffer leakage in AlGaN/GaN heterostructures

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 April 2013

C. Lewis Reynolds Jr. ,
Judith G. Reynolds ,
Antonio Crespo ,
James K. Gillespie ,
Kelson D. Chabak  and
Robert F. Davis
C. Lewis Reynolds Jr.*
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695
Judith G. Reynolds*
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695
Antonio Crespo
Affiliation:
Air Force Research Laboratory, Sensors Directorate, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio 45433
James K. Gillespie
Affiliation:
Air Force Research Laboratory, Sensors Directorate, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio 45433
Kelson D. Chabak
Affiliation:
Air Force Research Laboratory, Sensors Directorate, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio 45433
Robert F. Davis
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213
*
a)Address all correspondence to this author. e-mail: lew_reynolds@ncsu.edu
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Abstract

Buffer leakage in aluminum gallium nitride/gallium nitride (AlGaN/GaN) heterostructure transistors is recognized as an issue that has deleterious consequences on device performance for high-power, high-frequency transistors and has been related to the presence of uncharged threading screw dislocations. In this study, we demonstrate that measurements of buffer leakage in AlGaN/GaN heterostructures grown on bulk gallium nitride (GaN) substrates are consistent with a mechanism based on the concept of dislocations acting as quantum wires in series with unintentional silicon (Si) impurity incorporation at the bulk GaN substrate/GaN buffer interface. The number of electronic channels N deduced from the leakage data using Landauer’s formula for the quantum resistance of N electronic channels is consistent with the number of dislocations along the ohmic contact pads determined from panchromatic cathodoluminescence and x-ray diffraction measurements of the dislocation density. This mechanism is consistent with Shockley’s suggestion that dislocations can act as one-dimensional conductors due to the presence of edge states along the dislocation core.

Keywords

nitridesdevicesdislocations
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Materials Research , Volume 28 , Issue 13: FOCUS ISSUE: Frontiers in Thin-Film Epitaxy and Nanostructured Materials , 14 July 2013 , pp. 1687 - 1691
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2013 

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