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Beta gallium oxide (β-Ga2O3) shows significant promise in high-temperature, high-power, and sensing electronics applications. However, long-term stable metallization layers for Ohmic contacts at high temperatures present unique thermodynamic challenges. The current most common Ohmic contact design based on 20 nm of Ti has been repeatedly demonstrated to fail at even moderately elevated temperatures (300–400 °C) due to a combination of nonstoichiometric Ti/Ga2O3 interfacial reactions and kinetically favored Ti diffusion processes. Here, we demonstrate stable Ohmic contacts for Ga2O3 devices operating up to 500–600 °C using ultrathin Ti layers with a self-limiting interfacial reaction. The ultrathin Ti layer in the 5 nm Ti/100 nm Au contact stack is designed to fully oxidize while forming an Ohmic contact, thereby limiting both thermodynamic and kinetic instability. This novel contact design strategy results in an epitaxial conductive anatase titanium oxide interface layer that enables low-resistance Ohmic contacts that are stable both under long-term continuous operation (>500 h) at 600 °C in vacuum (≤10−4 Torr), as well as after repeated thermal cycling (15 times) between room temperature and 550 °C in flowing N2. This stable Ohmic contact design will accelerate the development of high-temperature devices by enabling research focus to shift toward rectifying interfaces and other interfacial layers.
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Tunable metal contacts at layered black-arsenic/metal interface forming during metal deposition for device fabrication
Abstract Understanding the kinetics of interfacial reaction in the deposition of metal contacts on 2D materials is important for determining the level of contact tenability and the nature of the contact itself. Here, we find that some metals, when deposited onto layered black-arsenic films using e-beam evaporation, form a-few-nm thick distinct intermetallic layer and significantly change the nature of the metal contact. In the case of nickel, the intermetallic layer is Ni 11 As 8 , whereas in the cases of chromium and titanium they are CrAs and a-Ti 3 As, respectively, with their unique structural and electronic properties. We also find that temperature, which affects interatomic diffusion and interfacial reaction kinetics, can be used to control the thickness and crystallinity of the interfacial layer. In the field effect transistors with black-arsenic channel, due to the specifics of its formation, this interfacial layer introduces a second and more efficient edge-type charge transfer pathway from the metal into the black-arsenic. Such tunable interfacial metal contacts could provide new pathways for engineering highly efficient devices and device architectures.
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- PAR ID:
- 10323956
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Communications Materials
- Volume:
- 3
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 2662-4443
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s43246-022-00233-7
