An official website of the United States government
Neutrons generated through charge-exchange9Be (p; ni)9Be reactions, with energies ranging from 0–33 MeV and an average energy of ∼9.8 MeV were used to irradiate conventional Schottky Ga2O3rectifiers and NiO/Ga2O3p-n heterojunction rectifiers to fluences of 1.1–2.2 × 1014cm−2. The breakdown voltage was improved after irradiation for the Schottky rectifiers but was highly degraded for their NiO/Ga2O3counterparts. This may be a result of extended defect zones within the NiO. After irradiation, the switching characteristics were degraded and irradiated samples of both types could not survive switching above 0.7 A or 400 V, whereas reference samples were robust to 1 A and 1 kV. The carrier removal rate in both types of devices was ∼45 cm−1. The forward currents and on-state resistances were only slightly degraded by neutron irradiation.
more »
« less
10 MeV Proton and Neutron Damage in Lateral AlN Rectifiers
Lateral Schottky or heterojunction rectifiers were irradiated with 10 MeV protons and neutrons. For proton irradiation, the forward current of both types of rectifiers decreased by approximately an order of magnitude, with a corresponding increase in on-state resistance. The resultant on/off ratio improved after irradiation because of the larger decrease in reverse current compared to forward current. Both types of rectifiers displayed a shift in forward current and RON curves to lower voltages after irradiation. This could be due to defects created by neutron irradiation introducing deep energy levels within the bandgap of AlN. These deep levels can trap charge carriers, reducing their mobility and increasing the on-state resistance. Transmission electron microscopy showed disorder created at the AlN/NiO interface by neutron irradiation. TCAD simulation was used to study the effects of irradiation with both protons and neutrons. The results confirmed that the irradiation caused a significant reduction in electron concentration and a small increase in the recombination rate. Neutron irradiation can also introduce interface states at the metal or oxide-semiconductor junction of the rectifier. These interface states can modify the effective Schottky barrier height, affecting the forward voltage drop and on-state resistance.
more »
« less
- Award ID(s):
- 2310285
- PAR ID:
- 10644469
- Publisher / Repository:
- The Electrochemical Society
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- ECS Journal of Solid State Science and Technology
- Volume:
- 14
- Issue:
- 4
- ISSN:
- 2162-8769
- Format(s):
- Medium: X Size: Article No. 045004
- Size(s):
- Article No. 045004
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
More Like this
-
-
This study demonstrates a substantial enhancement of breakdown voltage in β-Ga2O3 Schottky barrier diodes through an approach that combines fast neutron irradiation with controlled post-irradiation electro-thermal annealing. Devices irradiated with 1 MeV neutrons at a high fluence of 1 × 1015 n/cm2 initially exhibited substantial degradation, including a drastic reduction in on-current and an increase in on-resistance. Electro-thermal testing, conducted through simultaneous current–voltage measurements while heating the devices up to 250 °C, resulted in significant recovery. After four cycles of electro-thermal testing, the devices demonstrated significant improvements in performance, with a substantial recovery of on-current and a reduction in on-resistance compared to the post-radiation condition, approaching pre-radiation levels. Most recovery occurred during the first two cycles, with diminishing improvements thereafter, indicating that thermally responsive radiation-induced traps were largely mitigated early in the process. Capacitance–voltage measurements revealed a substantial reduction in net carrier concentration, decreasing from 3.2 × 1016 cm−3 pre-radiation to 5.5 × 1015 cm−3 after the first electro-thermal testing cycle, indicating an over 82% reduction. Following the third cycle, the carrier concentration partially recovered to 9.9 × 1015 cm−3, reflecting a carrier removal rate of ∼22 cm−1. The breakdown voltage (Vbr) exhibited a remarkable enhancement, increasing from approximately 300 V to 1.28 kV (a ∼325% improvement) after the first electro-thermal testing, which can be attributed to the reduction in net carrier concentration by compensating radiation-induced traps. Subsequent testing reduced Vbr slightly to 940 V due to partial recovery of carrier concentration, but it remained significantly higher than pre-radiation levels. These findings demonstrate the potential of combining neutron irradiation with electro-thermal annealing to significantly enhance the voltage-blocking capability of β-Ga2O3 power devices, making them strong candidates for high-power applications in radiation-intense environments.more » « less
-
The photocurrent produced by 259 nm wavelength excitation was measured in β-Ga2O3 Schottky diodes before and after neutron irradiation. These samples differed by the density of deep acceptors in the lower half of the bandgap as detected by capacitance–voltage profiling under monochromatic illumination. Irradiation led to a very strong increase in photocurrent, which closely correlated with the increase in deep trap density and the decrease after illumination of the effective Schottky barrier height due to hole capture by acceptors. A similar effect was observed on an as-grown βs-Ga2O3 film with a high density of deep acceptors. Electron beam induced current measurements indicated a strong amplification of photocurrent, which is attributed to the Schottky barrier lowering by holes trapped on acceptors near the surface. Photocurrent build-up and decay curves show several time constants ranging from several milliseconds to many seconds. These characteristic times are attributed to tunneling of electrons into the hole-filled acceptors near the surface and to thermal emission of holes from deep acceptors.more » « less
-
AlN Schottky barrier diodes with low ideality factor (<1.2), low differential ON-resistance (<0.6 mΩ cm2), high current density (>5 kA cm−2), and high breakdown voltage (680 V) are reported. The device structure consisted of a two-layer, quasi-vertical design with a lightly doped AlN drift layer and a highly doped Al0.75Ga0.25N ohmic contact layer grown on AlN substrates. A combination of simulation, current–voltage measurements, and impedance spectroscopy analysis revealed that the AlN/AlGaN interface introduces a parasitic electron barrier due to the conduction band offset between the two materials. This barrier was found to limit the forward current in fabricated diodes. Further, we show that introducing a compositionally-graded layer between the AlN and the AlGaN reduces the interfacial barrier and increases the forward current density of fabricated diodes by a factor of 104.more » « less
-
The energy and beam current dependence of Ga+focused ion beam milling damage on the sidewall of vertical rectifiers fabricated on n-type Ga2O3was investigated with 5–30 kV ions and beam currents from 1.3–20 nA. The sidewall damage was introduced by etching a mesa along one edge of existing Ga2O3rectifiers. We employed on-state resistance, forward and reverse leakage current, Schottky barrier height, and diode ideality factor from the vertical rectifiers as potential measures of the extent of the ion-induced sidewall damage. Rectifiers of different diameters were exposed to the ion beams and the “zero-area” parameters extracted by extrapolating to zero area and normalizing for milling depth. Forward currents degraded with exposure to any of our beam conductions, while reverse current was unaffected. On-state resistance was found to be most sensitive of the device parameters to Ga+beam energy and current. Beam current was the most important parameter in creating sidewall damage. Use of subsequent lower beam energies and currents after an initial 30 kV mill sequence was able to reduce residual damage effects but not to the point of initial lower beam current exposures.more » « less
