More Like this

1. Gate leakage current and threshold voltage characteristics of β-Ga2O3 passivated AlGaN/GaN based heterojunction field effect transistor

   https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2668236  

   Hasan, Samiul ; Jewel, Mohi Uddin ; Crittenden, Scott R. ; Lee, Dongkyu ; Avrutin, Vitaliy S. ; Özgür, Ümit ; Morkoç, Hadis ; Ahmad, Iftikhar ( March 2023 , Gallium Nitride Materials and Devices XVIII; 124210A (2023))

   Morkoç, Hadis ; Fujioka, Hiroshi ; Schwarz, Ulrich T. (Ed.)

   We report the gate leakage current and threshold voltage characteristics of Al0.3Ga0.7N/GaN heterojunction field effect transistor (HFET) with metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) grown β-Ga2O3 as a gate dielectric for the first time. In this study, GaN channel HFET and β-Ga2O3 passivated metal-oxide-semiconductor-HFET (MOS-HFET) structures were grown in MOCVD using N2 as carrier gas on a sapphire substrate. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) were used to characterize the structural properties and surface morphology of the heterostructure. The electrical properties were analyzed using van der Pauw, Hall, and the mercury probe capacitance-voltage (C-V) measurement systems. The 2-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) carrier density for the heterostructure was found to be in the order of ~1013 cm-2. The threshold voltage shifted more towards the negative side for the MOSHFET. The high-low (Hi-Lo) frequency-based C-V method was used to calculate the interface charge density for the oxide-AlGaN interface and was found to be in the order of ~1012 cm2eV-1. A remarkable reduction in leakage current from 2.33×10-2 A/cm2 for HFET to 1.03×10-8 A/cm2 for MOSHFET was observed demonstrating the viability of MOCVD-grown Ga2O3 as a gate dielectric. 

   more » « less
2. Demonstration of AlGaN Tunnel Junction p-Down UV Light Emitting Diodes

   Dominic Merwin Xavier, Agnes Maneesha ; Ghosh, Arnob: Rahman ; Allerman, Andrew ; Arafin, Shamsul ; Rajan, Siddharth ( June 2023 , EMC)

   Ultra-violet light emitting diodes (UV-LEDs) and lasers based on the III-Nitride material system are very promising since they enable compact, safe, and efficient solid-state sources of UV light for a range of applications. The primary challenges for UV LEDs are related to the poor conductivity of p-AlGaN layers and the low light extraction efficiency of LED structures. Tunnel junction-based UV LEDs provide a distinct and unique pathway to eliminate several challenges associated with UV LEDs1-4. In this work, we present for the first time, a reversed-polarization (p-down) AlGaN based UV-LED utilizing bottom tunnel junction (BTJ) design. We show that compositional grading enables us to achieve the lowest reported voltage drop of 1.1 V at 20 A/cm2 among transparent AlGaN based tunnel junctions at this Al-composition. Compared to conventional LED design, a p-down structure offers lower voltage drop because the depletion barrier for both holes and electrons is lower due to polarization fields aligning with the depletion field. Furthermore, the bottom tunnel junction also allows us to use polarization grading to realize better p- and n-type doping to improve tunneling transport. The epitaxial structure of the UV-LED was grown by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy (PAMBE) on metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD)-grown n-type Al0.3Ga0.7N templates. The transparent TJ was grown using graded n++-Al0.3Ga0.7N→ n++-Al0.4Ga0.6N (Si=3×1020 cm-3) and graded p++-Al0.4Ga0.6N →p++-Al0.3Ga0.7N (Mg=1×1020 cm-3) to take advantage of induced 3D polarization charges. The high number of charges at the tunnel junction region leads to lower depletion width and efficient hole injection to the p-type layer. The UV LED active region consists of three 2.5 nm Al0.2Ga0.8N quantum wells and 7 nm Al0.3Ga0.6N quantum barriers followed by 12 nm of p- Al0.46Ga0.64N electron blocking layer (EBL). The active region was grown on top of the tunnel junction. A similar LED with p-up configuration was also grown to compare the electrical performance. The surface morphology examined by atomic force microscopy (AFM) shows smooth growth features with a surface roughness of 1.9 nm. The dendritic features on the surface are characteristic of high Si doping on the surface. The composition of each layer was extracted from the scan by high resolution x-ray diffraction (HR-XRD). The electrical characteristics of a device show a voltage drop of 4.9 V at 20 A/cm2, which corresponds to a tunnel junction voltage drop of ~ 1.1 V. This is the best lowest voltage for transparent 30% AlGaN tunnel junctions to-date and is comparable with the lowest voltage drop reported previously on non-transparent (InGaN-based) tunnel junctions at similar Al mole fraction AlGaN. On-wafer electroluminescence measurements on patterned light-emitting diodes showed single peak emission wavelength of 325 nm at 100 A/cm2 which corresponds to Al0.2Ga0.8N, confirming that efficient hole injection was achieved within the structure. The device exhibits a wavelength shift from 330 nm to 325 nm with increasing current densities from 10A/cm2 to 100A/cm2. In summary, we have demonstrated a fully transparent bottom AlGaN homojunction tunnel junction that enables p-down reversed polarization ultraviolet light emitting diodes, and has very low voltage drop at the tunnel junction. This work could enable new flexibility in the design of future III-Nitride ultraviolet LEDs and lasers. 

   more » « less
3. Effect of drift layer doping and NiO parameters in achieving 8.9 kV breakdown in 100  μ m diameter and 4 kV/4 A in 1 mm diameter NiO/β-Ga2O3 rectifiers

   https://doi.org/10.1116/6.0002722  

   Li, Jian-Sian ; Chiang, Chao-Ching ; Xia, Xinyi ; Wan, Hsiao-Hsuan ; Ren, Fan ; Pearton, S. J. ( July 2023 , Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology A)

   The effect of doping in the drift layer and the thickness and extent of extension beyond the cathode contact of a NiO bilayer in vertical NiO/β-Ga2O3 rectifiers is reported. Decreasing the drift layer doping from 8 × 1015 to 6.7 × 1015 cm−3 produced an increase in reverse breakdown voltage (VB) from 7.7 to 8.9 kV, the highest reported to date for small diameter devices (100 μm). Increasing the bottom NiO layer from 10 to 20 nm did not affect the forward current–voltage characteristics but did reduce reverse leakage current for wider guard rings and reduced the reverse recovery switching time. The NiO extension beyond the cathode metal to form guard rings had only a slight effect (∼5%) in reverse breakdown voltage. The use of NiO to form a pn heterojunction made a huge improvement in VB compared to conventional Schottky rectifiers, where the breakdown voltage was ∼1 kV. The on-state resistance (RON) was increased from 7.1 m Ω cm2 in Schottky rectifiers fabricated on the same wafer to 7.9 m Ω cm2 in heterojunctions. The maximum power figure of merit (VB)2/RON was 10.2 GW cm−2 for the 100 μm NiO/Ga2O3 devices. We also fabricated large area (1 mm2) devices on the same wafer, achieving VB of 4 kV and 4.1 A forward current. The figure-of-merit was 9 GW  cm−2 for these devices. These parameters are the highest reported for large area Ga2O3 rectifiers. Both the small area and large area devices have performance exceeding the unipolar power device performance of both SiC and GaN. 

   more » « less
4. Silicon-doped β-Ga2O3 films grown at 1 µm/h by suboxide molecular-beam epitaxy

   Azizie, Kathy ; . Hensling, Felix V. ; Gorsak, Cameron A. ; Kim, Yunjo ; Pieczulewski, Naomi A. ; Dryden, Daniel M. ; Senevirathna, M. K. ; Coye, Selena ; Shang, Shun-Li ; Steele, Jacob ; et al ( April 2023 , APL materials)

   We report the use of suboxide molecular-beam epitaxy (S-MBE) to grow β-Ga2O3 at a growth rate of ∼1 μm/h with control of the silicon doping concentration from 5 × 1016 to 1019 cm−3 . In S-MBE, pre-oxidized gallium in the form of a molecular beam that is 99.98% Ga2O, i.e., gallium suboxide, is supplied. Directly supplying Ga2O to the growth surface bypasses the rate-limiting frst step of the two-step reaction mechanism involved in the growth of β-Ga2O3 by conventional MBE. As a result, a growth rate of ∼1 μm/h is readily achieved at a relatively low growth temperature (Tsub ≈ 525 ○C), resulting in flms with high structural perfection and smooth surfaces (rms roughness of <2 nm on ∼1 μm thick flms). Silicon-containing oxide sources (SiO and SiO2) producing an SiO suboxide molecular beam are used to dope the β-Ga2O3 layers. Temperature-dependent Hall effect measurements on a 1 μm thick flm with a mobile carrier concentration of 2.7 × 1017 cm−3 reveal a room-temperature mobility of 124 cm2 V−1 s −1 that increases to 627 cm2 V −1 s−1 at 76 K; the silicon dopants are found to exhibit an activation energy of 27 meV. We also demonstrate working metal–semiconductor feld-effect transistors made from these silicon-doped β-Ga2O3 flms grown by S-MBE at growth rates of ∼1 μm/h. 

   more » « less
5. Strategies to Enhance the Capability of Carrier Injection to the Effective Channel for Bottom-gated Amorphous Oxide Thin Films Transistors

   Liu, Mingyuan ; Kim, Hyeonghun ; Song, Han Wook ; Lee, Sunghwan ( November 2021 , Materials Research Society)

   Over the two decades, amorphous oxide semiconductors (AOSs) and their thin film transistor (TFT) channel application have been intensely explored to realize high performance, transparent and flexible displays due to their high field effect mobility (μFE=5-20 cm2/Vs), visible range optical transparency, and low temperature processability (25-300 °C).[1-2] The metastable amorphous phase is to be maintained during operation by the addition of Zn and additional third cation species (e.g., Ga, Hf, or Al) as an amorphous phase stabilizer.[3-5] To limit TFT off-state currents, a thin channel layer (10-20 nm) was employed for InZnO (IZO)-based TFTs, or third cations were added to suppress carrier generations in the TFT channel. To resolve bias stress-induced instabilities in TFT performance, approaches to employ defect passivation layers or enhance channel/dielectric interfacial compatibility were demonstrated.[6-7] Metallization contact is also a dominating factor that determines the performance of TFTs. Particularly, it has been reported that high electrical contact resistance significantly sacrifices drain bias applied to the channel, which leads to undesirable power loss during TFT operation and issues for the measurement of TFT field effect mobilities. [2, 8] However, only a few reports that suggest strategies to enhance contact behaviors are available in the literature. Furthermore, the previous approaches (1) require an additional fabrication complexity due to the use of additional treatments at relatively harsh conditions such as UV, plasma, or high temperatures, and (2) may lead to adverse effects on the channel material attributed to the chemical incompatibility between dissimilar materials, and exposures to harsh environments. Therefore, a simple and easy but effective buffer strategy, which does not require any additional process complexities and not sacrifice chemical compatibility, needs to be established to mitigate the contact issues and therefore achieve high performance and low power consumption AOS TFTs. The present study aims to demonstrate an approach utilizing an interfacial buffer layer, which is compositionally homogeneous to the channel to better align work functions between channel and metallization without a significant fabrication complexity and harsh treatment conditions. Photoelectron spectroscopic measurements reveal that the conducting IZO buffer, of which the work function (Φ) is 4.37 eV, relaxes a relatively large Φ difference between channel IZO (Φ=4.81 eV) and Ti (Φ=4.2-4.3 eV) metallization. The buffer is found to lower the energy barrier for charge carriers at the source to reach the effective channel region near the dielectric. In addition, the higher carrier density of the buffer and favorable chemical compatibility with the channel (compositionally the same) further contribute to a significant reduction in specific contact resistance as much as more than 2.5 orders of magnitude. The improved contact and carrier supply performance from the source to the channel lead to an enhanced field effect mobility of up to 56.49 cm2/Vs and a threshold voltage of 1.18 V, compared to 13.41 cm2/Vs and 7.44 V of IZO TFTs without a buffer. The present work is unique in that an approach to lower the potential barrier between the source and the effective channel region (located near the channel/dielectric interface, behaving similar to a buried-channel MOSFET [9]) by introducing a contact buffer layer that enhances the field effect mobility and facilitates carrier supply from the source to the effective channel region. 

   more » « less