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Weak Antilocalization in Polarization-Doped AlGaN/GaN Heterostructures

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2011

Nicolas Henri Thillosen ,
Thomas Schäpers ,
Nicoleta Kaluza ,
Hilde Hardtdegen  and
Vitaliy Guzenko
Nicolas Henri Thillosen
Affiliation:
n.thillosen@fz-juelich.de, Research Centre Juelich, Institute of Thin Films and Interfaces (ISG1), Leo Brand Str., Juelich, N/A, 52425, Germany, +492461612926, +492461612940
Thomas Schäpers
Affiliation:
th.schaepers@fz-juelich.de
Nicoleta Kaluza
Affiliation:
n.kaluza@fz-juelich.de
Hilde Hardtdegen
Affiliation:
h.hardtdegen@fz-juelich.de
Vitaliy Guzenko
Affiliation:
v.guzenko@fz-juelich.de
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Abstract

The properties of AlGaN/GaN heterostructures have been a subject of great activity because of their application in high frequency, high power, and high temperature devices. Magnetotransport measurements give the possibility to study the properties of a two-dimensional electron gas. Indeed, Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations of a two-dimensional electron gas can be observed at high magnetic fields. Moreover, magnetoresistance measurements close to zero magnetic field give the possibility to investigate the weak localization and weak antilocalization arising from AlGaN/GaN heterostructures. The latter is related to the spin-orbit interaction on the spin of the carriers present in these heterostructures and is a key-feature of the spin-transistor proposed by Datta and Das [1]. As a matter of fact, the spin orientation between the electrodes of this novel device should be manipulated by the controllable strength of the spin-orbit interaction in the two-dimensional electron gas. In order to obtain information on spin-orbit effects in AlGaN/GaN heterostructures we therefore analyzed the weak antilocalization observed in the magnetoresistance.

Polarization-doped AlGaN/GaN heterostructures were grown by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE) on the (0001) surface of sapphire substrates. First a 3 mm-thick GaN buffer layer was grown, followed by a Al0.3Ga0.7N layer with a thickness of 20 nm. Magnetotransport measurements were performed over a magnetic field range from –50 mT to +50 mT at various temperatures between 0.1 and 18 K. The Hall-bars were prepared by optical lithography and Ar+-ion-beam-etching technique. The metals used for the ohmic contacts were Ti/Al/Ni/Au. The mobility and carrier concentration in the single occupied subband were obtained from the Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations with the respective values of 9100 cm2/Vs and 6.2×1012 cm-2.

In our case, the Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations of the two-dimensional electron gas reveal the occupation of a single subband in the nearly triangular quantum well. At low magnetic field, weak localization as well as weak antilocalization were observed, showing that strong spin-orbit interaction is present in our structures. A previous report [2] explained the weak-antilocalization as being related to the intersubband scattering due to the occupation of a second subband in a modulation-doped quantum well. We show that weak antilocalization is also present in a polarization-doped quantum well with a single subband being occupied. In this perspective, temperature-dependent weak antilocalization measurements will be presented and analyzed using adequate theoretical models. Finally, the relevant scattering times like elastic scattering time, dephasing time as well as spin-orbit scattering time have been extracted. [1] S. Datta and B. Das, Appl. Phys. Lett. Vol. 56, pp. 665-667, 1990. [2] J. Lu et al., Appl. Phys. Lett., Vol. 85, pp. 3125-3127, 2004

Keywords

spintronicnitrideelectrical properties
Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 892 , 2005 , 0892-FF17-02
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2006

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References

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