skip to main content

Attention:

The NSF Public Access Repository (NSF-PAR) system and access will be unavailable from 11:00 PM ET on Thursday, October 10 until 2:00 AM ET on Friday, October 11 due to maintenance. We apologize for the inconvenience.


Title: In Situ Dielectric Al 2 O 3 /β‐Ga 2 O 3 Interfaces Grown Using Metal–Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition
Abstract

High quality dielectric‐semiconductor interfaces are critical for reliable high‐performance transistors. This paper reports the in situ metal–organic chemical vapor deposition of Al2O3on β‐Ga2O3as a potentially better alternative to the most commonly used atomic layer deposition (ALD). The growth of Al2O3is performed in the same reactor as Ga2O3using trimethylaluminum and O2as precursors without breaking the vacuum at a growth temperature of 600 °C. The fast and slow near interface traps at the Al2O3/β‐Ga2O3interface are identified and quantified using stressed capacitance–voltage (CV) measurements on metal oxide semiconductor capacitor (MOSCAP) structures. The density of shallow and deep level initially filled traps (Dit) are measured using ultraviolet‐assisted CV technique. The average Ditfor the MOSCAP is determined to be 6.4×1011cm−2eV−1. The conduction band offset of the Al2O3/ Ga2O3interface is also determined from CV measurements and found out to be 1.7 eV which is in close agreement with the existing literature reports of ALD Al2O3/Ga2O3interface. The current–voltage characteristics are also analyzed and the average breakdown field is extracted to be approximately 5.8 MV cm−1. This in situ Al2O3dielectric on β‐Ga2O3with improved dielectric properties can enable Ga2O3‐based high‐performance devices.

 
more » « less
Award ID(s):
1931652
NSF-PAR ID:
10360053
Author(s) / Creator(s):
 ;  ;  ;  ;  ;  ;  ;  
Publisher / Repository:
Wiley Blackwell (John Wiley & Sons)
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Advanced Electronic Materials
Volume:
7
Issue:
11
ISSN:
2199-160X
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. The in situ metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) growth of Al 2 O 3 dielectrics on β-Ga 2 O 3 and β-(Al x Ga 1−x ) 2 O 3 films is investigated as a function of crystal orientations and Al compositions of β-(Al x Ga 1−x ) 2 O 3 films. The interface and film qualities of Al 2 O 3 dielectrics are evaluated by high-resolution x-ray diffraction and scanning transmission electron microscopy imaging, which indicate the growth of high-quality amorphous Al 2 O 3 dielectrics with abrupt interfaces on (010), (100), and [Formula: see text] oriented β-(Al x Ga 1−x ) 2 O 3 films. The surface stoichiometries of Al 2 O 3 deposited on all orientations of β-(Al x Ga 1−x ) 2 O 3 are found to be well maintained with a bandgap energy of 6.91 eV as evaluated by high-resolution x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, which is consistent with the atomic layer deposited (ALD) Al 2 O 3 dielectrics. The evolution of band offsets at both in situ MOCVD and ex situ ALD deposited Al 2 O 3 /β-(Al x Ga 1−x ) 2 O 3 is determined as a function of Al composition, indicating the influence of the deposition method, orientation, and Al composition of β-(Al x Ga 1−x ) 2 O 3 films on resulting band alignments. Type II band alignments are determined at the MOCVD grown Al 2 O 3 /β-(Al x Ga 1−x ) 2 O 3 interfaces for the (010) and (100) orientations, whereas type I band alignments with relatively low conduction band offsets are observed along the [Formula: see text] orientation. The results from this study on MOCVD growth and band offsets of amorphous Al 2 O 3 deposited on differently oriented β-Ga 2 O 3 and β-(Al x Ga 1−x ) 2 O 3 films will potentially contribute to the design and fabrication of future high-performance β-Ga 2 O 3 and β-(Al x Ga 1−x ) 2 O 3 based transistors using MOCVD in situ deposited Al 2 O 3 as a gate dielectric. 
    more » « less
  2. α-Ga2O3has the corundum structure analogous to that of α-Al2O3. The bandgap energy of α-Ga2O3is 5.3 eV and is greater than that of β-Ga2O3, making the α-phase attractive for devices that benefit from its wider bandgap. The O–H and O–D centers produced by the implantation of H+and D+into α-Ga2O3have been studied by infrared spectroscopy and complementary theory. An O–H line at 3269 cm−1is assigned to H complexed with a Ga vacancy (VGa), similar to the case of H trapped by an Al vacancy (VAl) in α-Al2O3. The isolated VGaand VAldefects in α-Ga2O3and α-Al2O3are found by theory to have a “shifted” vacancy-interstitial-vacancy equilibrium configuration, similar to VGain β-Ga2O3, which also has shifted structures. However, the addition of H causes the complex with H trapped at an unshifted vacancy to have the lowest energy in both α-Ga2O3and α-Al2O3.

     
    more » « less
  3. NiO/β-(Al x Ga 1− x ) 2 O 3 /Ga 2 O 3 heterojunction lateral geometry rectifiers with diameter 50–100  μm exhibited maximum reverse breakdown voltages >7 kV, showing the advantage of increasing the bandgap using the β-(Al x Ga 1− x ) 2 O 3 alloy. This Si-doped alloy layer was grown by metal organic chemical vapor deposition with an Al composition of ∼21%. On-state resistances were in the range of 50–2180 Ω cm 2 , leading to power figures-of-merit up to 0.72 MW cm −2 . The forward turn-on voltage was in the range of 2.3–2.5 V, with maximum on/off ratios >700 when switching from 5 V forward to reverse biases up to −100 V. Transmission line measurements showed the specific contact resistance was 0.12 Ω cm 2 . The breakdown voltage is among the highest reported for any lateral geometry Ga 2 O 3 -based rectifier. 
    more » « less
  4. We report on growth and electrical properties of α-Ga2O3films prepared by halide vapor phase epitaxy (HVPE) at 500 °C on α-Cr2O3buffers predeposited on sapphire by magnetron sputtering. The α-Cr2O3buffers showed a wide microcathodoluminescence (MCL) peak near 350 nm corresponding to the α-Cr2O3bandgap and a sharp MCL line near 700 nm due to the Cr+intracenter transition. Ohmic contacts to Cr2O3were made with both Ti/Au or Ni, producing linear current–voltage ( I– V) characteristics over a wide temperature range with an activation energy of conductivity of ∼75 meV. The sign of thermoelectric power indicated p-type conductivity of the buffers. Sn-doped, 2- μm-thick α-Ga2O3films prepared on this buffer by HVPE showed donor ionization energies of 0.2–0.25 eV, while undoped films were resistive with the Fermi level pinned at ECof 0.3 eV. The I– V and capacitance–voltage ( C– V) characteristics of Ni Schottky diodes on Sn-doped samples using a Cr2O3buffer indicated the presence of two face-to-face junctions, one between n-Ga2O3and p-Cr2O3, the other due to the Ni Schottky diode with n-Ga2O3. The spectral dependence of the photocurrent measured on the structure showed the presence of three major deep traps with optical ionization thresholds near 1.3, 2, and 2.8 eV. Photoinduced current transient spectroscopy spectra of the structures were dominated by deep traps with an ionization energy of 0.95 eV. These experiments suggest another pathway to obtain p–n heterojunctions in the α-Ga2O3system.

     
    more » « less
  5. Abstract

    A unique field termination structure combining a three-step field plate with nitrogen ion implantation to enhance the reverse breakdown performance of Pt/β-Ga2O3Schottky barrier diodes (SBDs) and NiO/β-Ga2O3heterojunction diodes (HJDs) is reported. The fabricated devices showed a lowRon,spof 6.2 mΩ cm2for SBDs and 6.8 mΩ cm2for HJDs. HJDs showed a 0.8 V turn-on voltage along with an ideality factor of 1.1 leading to a low effective on-resistance of 18 mΩ cm2. The devices also showed low reverse leakage current (<1 mA cm−2) and a breakdown voltage of ∼1.4 kV. These results offer an alternative, simpler route for fabricating high-performance kilovolt-classβ-Ga2O3diodes.

     
    more » « less