Record low resistivities of 10 and 30 Ω cm and room-temperature free hole concentrations as high as 3 × 1018 cm−3were achieved in bulk doping of Mg in Al0.6Ga0.4N films grown on AlN single crystalline wafer and sapphire. The highly conductive films exhibited a low ionization energy of 50 meV and impurity band conduction. Both high Mg concentration (>2 × 1019cm−3) and low compensation were required to achieve impurity band conduction and high p-type conductivity. The formation of VN-related compensators was actively suppressed by chemical potential control during the deposition process. This work overcomes previous limitations in p-type aluminum gallium nitride (p-AlGaN) and offers a technologically viable solution to high p-conductivity in AlGaN and AlN. 
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                            On electrical analysis of Al-rich p-AlGaN films for III-nitride UV light emitters
                        
                    
    
            Abstract In this work, an alternative scheme to estimate the resistivity and ionization energy of Al-rich p-AlGaN epitaxial films is developed using two large-area ohmic contacts. Accordingly, the resistivities measured using current–voltage measurements were observed to corroborate the Hall measurements in the Van der Pauw configuration. A free hole concentration of ∼1.5 × 10 17 cm −3 and low ionization energy of ∼65 meV in Mg-doped Al 0.7 Ga 0.3 N films is demonstrated. Nearly an order of magnitude lower hydrogen concentration than Mg in the as-grown AlGaN films is thought to reduce the Mg passivation and enable higher hole concentrations in Al-rich p-AlGaN films, compared to p-GaN films. The alternate methodology proposed in this work is expected to provide a simpler pathway to evaluate the electrical characteristics of Al-rich p-AlGaN films for future III-nitride ultraviolet light emitters. 
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                            - PAR ID:
- 10318726
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Semiconductor Science and Technology
- Volume:
- 37
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 0268-1242
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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