There are continuing rapid developments in vertical geometry Ga2O3 for high voltage switching applications. Ga2O3 is emerging as a viable candidate for certain classes of power electronics with capabilities beyond existing technologies due to its large bandgap, controllable doping and the availability of large diameter, relatively inexpensive substrates. These include power conditioning systems, including pulsed power for avionics and electric ships, solid-state drivers for heavy electric motors and advanced power management and control electronics. There are already cases where the performance exceeds the theoretical values for SiC. Existing Si, SiC (vertical devices), and heteroepitaxial GaN (lateral devices) enjoy tremendous advantages in terms of process maturity, an advantage that is especially true for Si, where the ability to precisely process the material has resulted in devices such as super-junctions that surpass the unipolar “limit”. Continued development of low defect substrates, optimized epi growth and surface treatments and improved device design and processing methods for Ga2O3 are still required to push the experimental results closer to their theoretical values. Even 3 μm epi layers with doping concentration of 1016 cm-3 should have a theoretical breakdown voltage of ~1800V. The actual experimental value of VB is currently well below the theoretical predictions. Thermal management is a key issue in Ga2O3 power devices for practical high current devices and initial studies have appeared on both the experimental and theoretical fronts. We summarize progress in edge termination design, temperature measurement using thermoreflectance-based thermography to measure the thermal rise and decay of the active diodes, failure under forward bias and development of large current (up to 130A) arrays.
Reverse breakdown voltages larger than 1 kV have been reported for both unterminated Ga2O3 vertical rectifiers (1000- 1600 V) and field-plated Schottky diodes (1076-2300 V) with an epi thickness of 8-20 μm. If the doping is in the 1016 cm-3 range, the breakdown is usually in the 500-800V regime. Furthermore, the switching characteristics of discrete Ga2O3 vertical Schottky rectifiers exhibited reverse recovery times in the range of 20 to 30 ns. Large area (up to 0.2 cm2 ) Ga2O3 rectifiers were fabricated on a Si-doped n-Ga2O3 drift layer grown by halide vapor phase epitaxy on a Sn-doped n+ Ga2O3 (001) substrate. A forward current of 2.2 A was achieved in single-sweep voltage mode, a record for Ga2O3 rectifiers. The on-state resistance was 0.26 Ω·cm2 for these largest diodes, decreasing to 5.9 × 10-4 Ω·cm2 for 40x40 μm2 devices. We detail the design and fabrication of these devices. In addition, an inductive load test circuit was used to measure the switching performance of field-plated, edge-terminated Schottky rectifiers with a reverse breakdown voltage of 760 V (0.1 cm diameter, 7.85x10-3 cm2 area) and an absolute forward current of 1 A on 8 Μm thick epitaxial β-Ga2O3 drift layers. These devices were switched from 0.225 A to -700 V with trr of 82 ns, and from 1 A to -300 V with trr of 64 ns and no significant temperature dependence up to 125°C. There was no significant temperature dependence of trr up to 150°C.
Ga2O3 is gaining attention for high breakdown electronics. The β-polymorph is air-stable, has a wide bandgap (~4.6 eV) and is available in both bulk and epitaxial form. Different types of power diodes and transistors fabricated on Ga2O3 have shown impressive performance. Etching processes for Ga2O3 are needed for patterning for mesa isolation, threshold adjustment in transistors, thinning of nano-belts and selective area contact formation. Electrical damage in the near-surface region was found through barrier height changes of Schottky diodes on the etched surface. The damage is created by energetic ion bombardment, but may also consist of changes to near-surface stoichiometry through loss of lattice elements or deposition of etch residues. Annealing at 450°C removes this damage. We also discuss recent results on damage introduction by proton and electron irradiation. In this case, the carrier removal rates are found to be similar to those reported for GaN under similar conditions of dose and energy of the radiation.
AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) showed its promising performance in high power and high frequency, which can be used for applications such as satellite-based communication networks, inverter units in hybrid electric vehicles and advanced radar systems. However, intrinsic defects and defects generated during the device fabrication degraded HEMT performance, such as drain current collapse, high gate leakage, and lower rf power density and power add efficiency. Furthermore, subsequent electrical stressing of the HEMTs during operation leads to creation of more traps and further device degradation through various mechanisms, including gate contact sinking, shallow trap formations, and the inverse piezoelectric effect. It is highly desirable to have non-destructive methods available to identify the activation energies of the defects and spatial location of trap states in HEMT. A sub-bandgap optical pumping technique was developed to identify trap locations in AlGaN/GaN HEMTs. By varying photon fluxes, the traps with different activation energies appeared at different photon flux levels. This implies that the defects originate at different physical locations in the HEMT. The locations of the traps identified with the sub-bandgap optical pumping methods confirmed by gate pulse measurements under optical pumping.
Proton irradiation from the backside of the samples were employed to enhance off-state drain breakdown voltage of
AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) grown on Si substrates. Via holes were fabricated directly under
the active area of the HEMTs by etching through the Si substrate for subsequent backside proton irradiation. By taking
the advantage of the steep drop at the end of proton energy loss profile, the defects created by the proton irradiation from
the backside of the sample could be precisely placed at specific locations inside the AlGaN/GaN HEMT structure. There
were no degradation of drain current nor enhancement of off-state drain voltage breakdown voltage observed for the
irradiated AlGaN/GaN HEMTs with the proton energy of 225 or 275 keV, for which the defects created by the proton
irradiations were intentionally placed in the GaN buffer. HEMTs with defects placed in the 2 dimensional electron gas
(2DEG) channel region and AlGaN barrier using 330 or 340 keV protons not only showed degradation of drain current,
but also exhibited improvement of the off-state drain breakdown voltage. FLOODS TCAD finite-element simulations
were performed to confirm the hypothesis of a virtual gate formed around the 2DEG region to reduce the peak electric
field around the gate edges and increase the off-state drain breakdown voltage.
We have investigated the effect of proton irradiation on reliability of InAlN/GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs). Devices were subjected to 5-15 MeV proton irradiations with a fixed dose of 5 × 1015 cm-2, or to a different doses of 2 × 1011, 5 × 1013 or 2 × 1015 cm-2 of protons at a fixed energy of 5 MeV. During off-state electrical stressing, the typical critical voltage for un-irradiated devices was 45 to 55 V. By sharp contrast, no critical voltage was detected for proton irradiated HEMTs up to 100 V, which was instrument-limited. After electrical stressing, no degradation was observed for the drain or gate current-voltage characteristics of the proton-irradiated HEMTs. However, the drain current decreased ~12%, and the reverse bias gate leakage current increased more than two orders of magnitude for un-irradiated HEMTs as a result of electrical stressing.
Water droplets were either pushed or pulled with an UV light on the surface of vertically aligned and superhydrophobic
ZnO nanorods (NRs). The contact angle of the droplets reduce to a lower value due to the absorption of UV by ZnO NRs
and a circulating current was observed inside the droplet. The droplets were either pushed away from or pulled toward to
the center of the UV light depending on the locations of the droplets to the UV light. It is obvious that in the pushing
mode, the circulating current dominate the direction of the movement of the droplets, while in the pulling mode, the
contact angle change dominate the direction of the droplet movement
AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) with polar and nonpolar ZnO nanowires
modified gate exhibit significant changes in channel conductance upon expose to different
concentration of carbon monoxide (CO) at room temperature. The ZnO nanowires, grown by chemical
vapor deposition (CVD), with perfect crystal quality will attach CO molecule and release electrons,
which will lead to a change of surface charge in the gate region of the HEMTs, inducing a higher
positive charge on the AlGaN surface, and increasing the piezoinduced charge density in the HEMTs
channel. These electrons create an image positive charge on the gate region for the required neutrality,
thus increasing the drain current of the HEMTs. The HEMTs source-drain current was highly
dependent on the CO concentration. The limit of detection achieved was 400 ppm and 3200ppm in the
open cavity with continuous gas flow using a 50x50μm2 gate sensing area for polar and nonpolar ZnO
nanowire gated HEMTs sensor.
B. Chu, Y. L. Wang, K. Chen, C. Chang, C. F. Lo, S. Pearton, G. Papadi, J. Coleman, B. Sheppard, C. Dungen, Kevin Kroll, Nancy Denslow, A. Dabiran, P. Chow, J. Johnson, E. Pine, K. Linthicum, F. Ren
A promising sensing technology utilizing AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) has been
developed to analyze a wide variety of environmental and biological gases and liquids. The conducting 2DEG channel
of GaN/AlGaN HEMTs is very close to the surface and extremely sensitive to adsorption of analytes. Examples of
detecting mercury ions, perkinsus, lactic acid, carbon dioxide, and vitellogenin are discussed in this paper.
Enhancement-mode TFTs based on amorphous InGaZnO channel were fabricated on paper, glass or plastic substrates at
low temperature (< 100°C). The TFTs operated in enhancement mode and showed low operating voltages of 0.5-2.5 V,
drain current on-to-off ratios of ~ 105, sub-threshold gate-voltage swing of 0.25-0.5 V.decade-1, and high saturation
mobilities of 5-12 cm2.V-1.s-1. The devices exhibited small shifts during 1000 hours aging time at room temperature.
Significant challenges remain, including improving the stability of the devices under bias, lowering the operating
voltages, replacing metal contacts with conducting polymers that should be more resistant to cracking on rolling-up of
flexible substrates and developing large-area printing processes that are compatible with manufacturing these devices on
very large areas.
B. Chu, B. Kang, H. Wang, C. Chang, T, Lele, Y. Tseng, A. Goh, A. Sciullo, W. Wu, J. N. Lin, B. Gila, S. Pearton, J. Johnson, E. Piner, K. Linthicum, F. Ren
Chemical sensors can be used to analyze a wide variety of environmental and biological gases and liquids and may
need to be able to selectively detect a target analyte. Different methods, including gas chromatography (GC),
chemiluminescence, selected ion flow tube (SIFT), and mass spectroscopy (MS) have been used to measure biomarkers.
These methods show variable results in terms of sensitivity for some applications and may not meet the requirements for
a handheld biosensor. A promising sensing technology utilizes AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs).
HEMT structures have been developed for use in microwave power amplifiers due to their high two dimensional electron
gas (2DEG) mobility and saturation velocity. The conducting 2DEG channel of GaN/AlGaN HEMTs is very close to the
surface and extremely sensitive to adsorption of analytes. HEMT sensors can be used for detecting gases, ions, pH
values, proteins, and DNA. In this paper we review recent progress on functionalizing the surface of HEMTs for specific
detection of glucose, kidney marker injury molecules, prostate cancer and other common substances of interest in the
biomedical field.
We demonstrate that Ti/Al/Cr/Mo/Au ohmic contact has an extremely smooth surface morphology of 29.0 nm and
a low specific contact resistivity (ρc) of 1.1×10-6 ohm-cm2 on n-type AlGaN/GaN heterostructures. The use of Cr
interlayer in Ti/Al/Cr/Mo/Au contacts leads to significantly improved contact morphology without any degradation on
the contact resistance. This is attributed to the reduced inter-diffusion and reaction between the layers in the contact
stack.
Wide bandgap semiconductor ZnO and GaN nanowires have shown the ability to detect many types of
gases, biological and chemical species of interest In this review we give some recent examples of using
these nanowires for pH sensing, glucose detection and hydrogen detection at ppm levels.
ZnO is a wide bandgap semiconductor that exhibits properties that are near-ideal for light-emitting diodes, but presents
materials challenges that must be overcome in order to achieve highly efficient light emission. The most significant
issue with ZnO is p-type doping. Related materials issues include understanding electron-hole transport across pn
junctions, as well as understanding and minimizing leakage current paths within the bulk and on the surface. In this
paper, the formation and properties of phosphorus-doped Zn1-xMgxO films, ZnO-based pn homojunctions and
heterojunctions is discussed. The behavior of phosphorus within the ZnO and ZnMgO matrices will be described.
Comparisons with other acceptor dopants will be made. Discussion will include stability of transport properties,
stabilization of surfaces, and device characteristics.
Wide bandgap semiconductor nanowires are attractive for a variety of sensing purposes because of their excellent
stability, large surface area, pizeo-electric nature and ability to be integrated with on-chip wireless communication
systems. In this brief review, we will discuss progress in these nanowires for gas sensing.
We report the influence of bonding temperature on SU-8 to SU-8 bonding and report fabrication of a hybrid microelectromechanical-tunable filter (MEM-TF) using SU-8 bond pads. We demonstrate use of 2-µm-thick 50×50-µm2 SU-8 bond pads to attach 4.92-µm-thick 250×250-µm2 Al0.4Ga0.6As-GaAs distributed Bragg reflectors (DBR) to polysilicon MUMPs® piston actuators. Advantages of this process include compatibility with hydrofluoric-acid-release chemistry, low-temperature/low-pressure bonding, simple bond-pad photolithography, 57% flip-bonded DBR yield, and 30% electrostatically actuatable hybrid MEM-TF yield.
The transport and annealing properties of phosphorus-doped (Zn,Mg)O thin films grown via pulsed laser deposition
(PLD) are studied. The electron carrier concentration for (Zn,Mg)O:P films decreases with increasing deposition and Ar
annealing temperature. All the films exhibit good crystallinity with c-axis orientation. This result indicates the
importance of activation of the P dopant in (Zn,Mg)O:P films. The as-deposited ZnO:P film properties show less
dependence on the deposition growth temperatures. The resistivity of the (Zn,Mg)O:P films is significantly higher than
the ZnO:P films grown under similar conditions, indicating separation of the conduction band edge relative to the defect
donor state. The annealed ZnO:P films are n-type with resistivity dependent on annealing temperature.
Zn0.9Mg0.1O/ZnO heterostructures were grown on both sapphire and bulk ZnO substrates via pulsed laser deposition (PLD). Electron-beam deposited 100nm Au and Ti/Au (20nm/80nm) were used as the p-Ohmic contact and n-Ohmic contact, respectively. Post-annealing at above 450°C of the contacts showed improved ohmic characteristics. I-V dependences showed good rectifying diode-like behaviors with threshold voltage of 1.36V and 2.16V for the devices fabricated on sapphire and ZnO substrates, respectively. 0.01at%Al-doped n-ZnO (n ~1019 cm-3) was deposited on MgO buffer layer via PLD. The electrical and optical properties strongly depend on the growth temperature, working pressure and laser energy. Room temperature photoluminescence showed band edge emission at ~377nm with very low deep level emission. The intensity of the band edge emission increased with growth temperature and deposition laser energy. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) results also showed that the root-mean-square (RMS) roughness increases with growth temperature and oxygen partial pressure. The full-width-at-half maximum (FWHM) for the ZnO (0002) peak is of 0.26-0.64°.
We achieved p-(Zn,Mg)O by doping with phosphorous and the conduction type was confirmed by capacitance-voltage properties of metal/insulator/p-(Zn,Mg)O:P diode structures as well as Hall measurements. The p-(Zn,Mg)O:P/n-ZnO junction was grown by pulsed laser deposition on bulk ZnO doped with Sn. Without post-growth annealing, the phosphorous-doped ZnMgO showed p-type conductivity (hole density ~1016 cm-3, mobility ~6 cm2V-1s-1) in the as-grown state. The metal contacts in top-to-bottom p-n junctions were made with Ni/Au as the p-ohmic and Ti/Au as the backside n-ohmic contact. The p-contacts showed improved characteristics after annealing up to 350 - 400 °C, but the n-contacts were ohmic as-deposited. The simple, low temperature growth (≤500 °C) and processing sequence (≤400 °C) shows the promise of ZnO for applications such as low-cost UV light emitters and transparent electronics.
The U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL) has developed a number of near-infrared, prototype laser detection and ranging (LADAR) Systems based on the chirp, amplitude-modulated LADAR (CAML) architecture. The use of self-mixing detectors in the receiver, that have the ability to internally detect and down-convert modulated optical signals, have significantly simplified the LADAR design. Recently, ARL has designed and fabricated single-pixel, self-mixing, InGaAs-based, metal-semiconductor-metal detectors to extend the LADAR operating wavelength to 1.55 mm and is currently in the process of designing linear arrays of such detectors. This paper presents fundamental detector characterization measurements of the new 1.55 mm detectors in the CAML architecture and some insights on the design of 1.55 μm linear arrays.
We analyze the optoelectronic mixing characteristics of InAlAs, Schottky-enhanced, InGaAs-based, metal-semiconductor-metal photodetectors. For devices with Schottky-enhancement layers (SELs) of about 500 Å, the measured frequency bandwidth is less than that of a corresponding photodetector. The mixing efficiency decreases with decrease in optical power, decreases with increase in local oscillator frequency and decreases with decrease in mixed signal frequency. We attribute this behavior to the band-gap discontinuity associated with the SEL. For devices with thinner SELs (≈100 Å), the mixing characteristics are greatly improved: the bandwidth of the optoelectronic mixer (OEM) is similar to that of a corresponding photodetector and the mixing efficiency decreases only slightly with decrease in optical power. We attribute these results to the enhancement of the thermionic/tunneling current through the thinner SEL. We also present a circuit model of the Schottky-enhanced, InGaAs-based OEM to explain the experimental results.
Interdigitated-finger metal-semiconductor-metal photodetectors (MSM-PDs) are widely used for high-speed optoelectronic applications. Recently, GaAs MSM-PDs have been utilized as optoelectronic mixers (OEMs) in an incoherent laser radar (LADAR) system. InGaAs MSM-PDs would allow LADAR operation at eye-safe wavelengths, mainly 1.55 μm. Unfortunately, the Schottky barrier height on InGaAs is quite low (~0.1-0.2eV) leading to high dark current and, hence, low signal-to-noise ratio. To reduce dark current, the Schottky barrier is typically “enhanced” by employing a high-band-gap lattice-matched Schottky enhancement layer (SEL). Detectors using SELs yield low dark current, high responsivity, and high bandwidths. In this paper we analyze the mixing effect in InAlAs Schottky-enhanced InGaAs-based MSM-PDs. We find that the measured frequency bandwidth of such a mixer is smaller than when used as a photodetector. Moreover, the mixing efficiency depends on the light modulation and mixed signal frequencies and decreases non-linearly with decrease in optical power. This is not observed in GaAs-based and non-Schottky-enhanced InGaAs MSM-PDs. We present a circuit model of the MSM-PD OEM to explain the experimental results.
Finite difference analysis was used to determine the thermal characteristics of continuous wave (CW) 850 nm AlGaAs/GaAs implant-apertured vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers. A novel flip-chip design was used to enhance the heat dissipation. The temperature rise in the active region can be maintained below 40 °C at 4 mW output power with 10 mA current bias. In contrast, the temperature rise reaches above 60 °C without flip-chip bonding. The transient-temperature during turn-on of a VCSEL was also investigated. The time needed for the device to reach the steady-state temperature was in the range of a few tenths of a milli-second, which is orders of magnitude larger than the electrical or optical switch time. Flip-chip bonding will reduce the shift of the wavelength, peak power, threshold current and slope efficiency during VCSEL operations.
Recent advances in developing process modules for GaN photonic and power electronic devices are reviewed. These processes include damage removal in dry etched n- and p- GaN, implant doping and isolation, novel gate dielectrics, improved Schottky and ohmic contacts.
Erbium (Er) doped semiconductors are of interest for light- emitting device applications operating at around 1.55 micrometers and for the potential integration with other semiconductor devices. However, the optical emission of Er3+ ions in semiconductors has not been as efficient as in dielectric materials, particularly at room temperature. This may be because ionic bonds, which are characteristic of dielectrics, are better suited for forming the required Er3+ energy levels than are covalent bonds, which are present in most III-V semiconductors. In this paper, we report 1.55 micrometers emission from an Er-doped GaN LED. We also discuss effect of the measurement temperature on the emission spectrum as well as the effect of sample annealing on the emission spectrum.
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