United States

Steady-state current induced degradation mechanisms of 275-nm-band AlGaN quantum well (QW) deep-ultraviolet (DUV) light-emitting diodes (LEDs) were investigated. The optical output power (Po) showed an initial rapid decrease by 20-30 % within the aging time (tage) of 100 h and then gradually decreased to about 60 % by tage of 1000 h. For elucidating the causes for the initial and gradual degradations, complementary electrical, time-resolved photoluminescence (TRPL), and impurity characterizations were carried out, making a connection with the junction band profiles. Because the initial degradation of the wells was less significant than the Po, the short-term degradation is attributed to the reduction in carrier injection efficiency (CIE), not in internal quantum efficiency (IQE) of the wells, most probably due to de-passivation of initially H-passivated vacancy clusters in Mg-doped AlGaN electron blocking layer (EBL) especially close to the multiple QWs. The principal cause for the gradual decrease in Po is tentatively attributed to a gradual decrease in IQE of the QWs. (Contents) Recently, an increasing demand for antivirus has attracted attention for DUV LEDs operating between 200 and 280 nm, because such radiation is known to inactivate bacteria or viruses, including SARS-CoV-2. AlGaN-based 275-nm-band DUV LEDs are suitable for such purposes, and Po of several manufacturers are increasing. However, simultaneous realization of high power and high quantum efficiency is still difficult and the device lifetime is far less than that of visible and near UV LEDs. With respect to the device lifetime, there is a consensus that the degradation can be divided into two groups: a rapid reduction in Po within tage below about 100 h and a gradual reduction for tage ≥ 100 h. The results have been explained to be due to the increase in the number of point defects acting as nonradiative recombination centers (NRCs) in the QWs. However, direct evidence for increased concentration of NRCs has not been given yet. In this presentation, the results of electrical, TRPL, and secondary-ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) measurements carried out on 275-nm-band AlGaN LEDs are shown to define the locations of major degradations. Two sets (lot A and B) of AlGaN DUV LEDs grown on c-plane sapphire have been stressed under hard conditions: forward current IF of 350 mA and junction temperature Tj of 105 °C. Consistent with previous literatures, Po for the near-band-edge (NBE) emission showed an initial rapid decrease by 20-30 % (tage &lt; 100 h) and a gradual decrease to about 60 % by tage of 1000 h. The initial decrease was accompanied by the increases in both IF below the diffusion voltage (VD) and reverse leakage current (IR). For elucidating dominant causes for the degradations, TRPL measurements were carried out using the excitation photon energy below the barrier and above the well to extract pure photoluminescence (PL) lifetimes of the wells. Because the decrease in the room-temperature PL lifetime that represents the nonradiative lifetime was less significant than the Po, the initial degradation is attributed to the decrease in CIE, not in IQE of the wells. From the energy band diagrams calculated for biases V = -5, 0, 4, and 7 V, both the below VD and reverse leakages appear to take place in the AlGaN EBL, especially at the interface close to the active region. Because the decrease in H concentration in the EBL to multiple QW region was confirmed by SIMS measurement, the initial degradation is most probably due to de-passivation of initially H-passivated vacancy clusters (NRCs) in the EBL close to the multiple QWs. The principal cause for the gradual decrease in Po is tentatively attributed to a gradual decrease in IQE of the QWs. This work was supported by MOE program for implementation of innovative infection-control and digital technologies with low CO2 emissions, MEXT Crossover Alliance, an JST SPRING (#JPMJFS2102), Japan.

EMC 2023

Short-Term Degradation Mechanisms of 275-nm-Band AlGaN-Based Deep-Ultraviolet Light Emitting Diodes Fabricated on a Sapphire Substrate

vacancy clusters

algan duv leds

degradation

Steady-state current induced degradation mechanisms of 275-nm-band AlGaN quantum well (QW) deep-ultraviolet (DUV) light-emitting diodes (LEDs) were investigated. The optical output power (Po) showed an initial rapid decrease by 20-30 % within the aging time (tage) of 100 h and then gradually decreased to about 60 % by tage of 1000 h. For elucidating the causes for the initial and gradual degradations, complementary electrical, time-resolved photoluminescence (TRPL), and impurity characterizations were carried out, making a connection with the junction band profiles. Because the initial degradation of the wells was less significant than the Po, the short-term degradation is attributed to the reduction in carrier injection efficiency (CIE), not in internal quantum efficiency (IQE) of the wells, most probably due to de-passivation of initially H-passivated vacancy clusters in Mg-doped AlGaN electron blocking layer (EBL) especially close to the multiple QWs. The principal cause for the gradual decrease in Po is tentatively attributed to a gradual decrease in IQE of the QWs. (Contents) Recently, an increasing demand for antivirus has attracted attention for DUV LEDs operating between 200 and 280 nm, because such radiation is known to inactivate bacteria or viruses, including SARS-CoV-2. AlGaN-based 275-nm-band DUV LEDs are suitable for such purposes, and Po of several manufacturers are increasing. However, simultaneous realization of high power and high quantum efficiency is still difficult and the device lifetime is far less than that of visible and near UV LEDs. With respect to the device lifetime, there is a consensus that the degradation can be divided into two groups: a rapid reduction in Po within tage below about 100 h and a gradual reduction for tage ≥ 100 h. The results have been explained to be due to the increase in the number of point defects acting as nonradiative recombination centers (NRCs) in the QWs. However, direct evidence for increased concentration of NRCs has not been given yet. In this presentation, the results of electrical, TRPL, and secondary-ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) measurements carried out on 275-nm-band AlGaN LEDs are shown to define the locations of major degradations. Two sets (lot A and B) of AlGaN DUV LEDs grown on c-plane sapphire have been stressed under hard conditions: forward current IF of 350 mA and junction temperature Tj of 105 °C. Consistent with previous literatures, Po for the near-band-edge (NBE) emission showed an initial rapid decrease by 20-30 % (tage < 100 h) and a gradual decrease to about 60 % by tage of 1000 h. The initial decrease was accompanied by the increases in both IF below the diffusion voltage (VD) and reverse leakage current (IR). For elucidating dominant causes for the degradations, TRPL measurements were carried out using the excitation photon energy below the barrier and above the well to extract pure photoluminescence (PL) lifetimes of the wells. Because the decrease in the room-temperature PL lifetime that represents the nonradiative lifetime was less significant than the Po, the initial degradation is attributed to the decrease in CIE, not in IQE of the wells. From the energy band diagrams calculated for biases V = -5, 0, 4, and 7 V, both the below VD and reverse leakages appear to take place in the AlGaN EBL, especially at the interface close to the active region. Because the decrease in H concentration in the EBL to multiple QW region was confirmed by SIMS measurement, the initial degradation is most probably due to de-passivation of initially H-passivated vacancy clusters (NRCs) in the EBL close to the multiple QWs. The principal cause for the gradual decrease in Po is tentatively attributed to a gradual decrease in IQE of the QWs. This work was supported by MOE program for implementation of innovative infection-control and digital technologies with low CO2 emissions, MEXT Crossover Alliance, an JST SPRING (#JPMJFS2102), Japan.

technical paper

The Electronic Materials Conference (EMC) is the premier annual forum on the preparation, characterization and use of electronic materials. This year’s event will feature a plenary session, topical sessions, a poster session and more.

EMC is coordinated with the Device Research Conference (DRC). This recognizes the strong interaction between device and electronic materials research and provides fruitful exchange of information between attendees of both Conferences.

The Electronic Materials Conference (EMC) is the premier annual forum on the preparation, characterization and use of electronic materials. 

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 LEDs[1-4]. 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. Funding from National Science Foundation under grant number 2034140 is gratefully acknowledged. References: [1] Y. Zhang et al., Applied Physics Letters, vol. 109, no. 12, 2016 [2] A. Pandey, W. J. Shin, J. Gim, R. Hovden, and Z. Mi, Photonics Research, vol. 8, no. 3, 2020 [3] V. Fan Arcara et al., Journal of Applied Physics, vol. 126, no. 22, p. 224503, 2019. [4] K. Nagata et al., Applied Physics Express, vol. 14, no. 8, p. 084001, 2021.

Demonstration of AlGaN Tunnel Junction p-Down UV Light Emitting Diodes

Injection laser diodes (LDs) in the III-N alloy system require the growth of heterostructures. Influenced by both lattice mismatch and thermal expansion coefficient mismatch in such structures, the alloy system is restrained from freely allowing full alloy selection for the best device performance. In the case of LDs emitting in the UV-A range, tensile strain limits the growth of adequately thick and/or high Al-mole-fraction AlGaN epitaxial layers on GaN substrates, and the growth of layers having thickness beyond the critical layer thickness results in cracking of the film. The inadequate thickness or index contrast of cladding layer (CL) to the active layer limits the LED or LD device performance due to low optical confinement, while the yield of the devices fabricated on the wafer is significantly reduced by the cracks. In this work, we describe a novel approach employing non-planar growth (NPG) that enables the deposition of crack-free AlGaN layers with relatively thick and high Al-mole-fraction on patterned GaN substrates with rectangular mesas with adequately large area for the fabrication of UV LEDs and injection laser devices. Cracking of AlGaN layers grown by MOCVD on (0001) GaN substrates with NPG mesas was evaluated. Stripe-shaped NPG mesas were formed on the GaN substrate with conventional dry etching. The direction of the stripe mesas was aligned to be parallel to the m axis of GaN. The widths of the NPG mesa were set to be 25 and 100 µm. AlxGa1-xN/AlyGa1-yN short period super lattices (SPSLs) were grown on the patterned GaN. The average Al mole fraction and total thickness of the AlGaN SPSL were set to be 0.16 and 1500 nm, respectively. Surface cracking after the growth was not observed on the AlGaN SPSL grown on the top of mesa, while the critical thickness for planar sample without mesa formation was 200 nm. Investigations with AlGaN with different Al mole fractions and thicknesses show that the surface cracking depends on the mesa width and depth. Mesas with narrower widths and/or deeper etching depth are more effective to prevent the cracking than others with either wider widths or shallower depths.[1,2] Additionally, the suppression of the formation of the crack is attributed to an anisotropic relaxation of the strain in the AlGaN SPSL which was enabled by the elastic deformation of GaN layer along the direction perpendicular to the stripe mesa. Our results clearly show that the NPG approach enables us to achieve thick AlGaN layers with high composition contrast to the substrate material with a thickness beyond critical layer thickness by relaxing the tensile stress in the AlGaN layers on the top of mesa. This is especially advantageous for fabrication of UV LDs as these devices require thick CLs with high refractive index contrast to the active layer to lower the lasing threshold. Using this approach, we have designed and grown a UV-A multiple-quantum-well LD heterostructure. The CL in upper and lower side of the active layers are composed of doped AlGaN SPSLs with average Al mole fraction and combined thickness of 0.16 and 1100 nm, respectively. The surface of the planar reference sample has a high density of cracks along the <11-20> directions while the NPG sample has no cracks on the top surface of several-mm-long NPG mesas. Test diodes device fabricated on the NPG sample before formation of the laser cavity structure show rectification with no leakage in a DC current-voltage measurement at 300K. Spontaneous light emission in UV-A range was successfully demonstrated by pulsed current injection at 300K. From these results, the NPG approach is proven to effectively suppress the cracking of relatively thick AlGaN layers with high Al mole fraction and thicknesses beyond the critical layer thickness and thus this approach is promising to achieve a high-performance UV-A LD and LEDs. [1] F. Mehnke et al., J. Appl. Phys. 131, 073103 (2022). [2] Y. Ando et al., J. Cryst. Growth 607, 127100 (2023).

Non-Planar Growth of Crack-Free High Al-Mole-Fraction AlGaN Heterostructures on Patterned GaN Substrates for Ultraviolet Light Emitting Diodes and Laser Diodes

A possible way to reduce the production cost of GaN-based LEDs is to serially grow several InGaN-GaN multiple quantum well (MQW) structures on the same sapphire substrate and connect these MQW structures with a tunnel junction (TJ). This approach can realize multiple wavelength LEDs covering the same chip area. Furthermore, cascaded LEDs can effectively increase the optical output power per chip area when each MQW section is driven in the low efficiency-droop regime by applying high voltages but low current densities to the whole LED. The complex nature of the growth of cascaded LED requires vertically-resolved structural and optical analytical tools to evaluate the different regions of the stack. Using nano-cathodoluminescence performed in scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM-CL) as well as electroluminescence (EL) microscopy, we have investigated a cascaded InGaN/GaN LED. The structure has been grown by metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE) in a single growth process on top of a GaN/sapphire template. Three 5-fold InGaN/GaN MQWs are separated by a heavily doped GaN:Mg/GaN:Ge TJ. On top, a GaN:Mg/GaN:Ge TJ was grown as contact scheme completing the cascaded LED structure. The Mg-doped GaN layers were thermally activated by a combination of in- and ex-situ activation steps. Additionally, the cascaded LED was processed by standard UV-lithography, mesa dry-etching and metal deposition. In the spatially averaged EL spectrum of the processed LED structure, the emission peak is centered at 455 nm modulated by Fabry-Pérot oscillations. The competition between the Fabry-Pérot modes leads to a lateral variation of the EL peak wavelength. Structural and optical properties have been investigated by highly spatially resolved STEM-CL in cross section. STEM high-angle annular dark field (HAADF) contrast resolves the full structure and the quantum wells with sharp interfaces. The panchromatic CL intensity exhibits highest intensity around 435 nm wavelength at each InGaN/GaN MQW section. Each individual layer of the structure reveals its own characteristic emission in local spectra acting as fingerprint luminescence. In particular, a cross-sectional CL linescan performed at 17 K across the MQW stack reveals the emission evolution in growth direction: all 3 MQW luminescence contributions are spectrally separated shifting from bottom to top to longer wavelengths. In more detail, each individual MQW shows a peak wavelength change in growth direction indicating different structural and/or chemical properties of the individual 5-fold quantum wells.

Advanced Cathodoluminescence Microscopy of a Cascaded InGaN/GaN LED

III-nitride LEDs have revolutionized modern lighting through highly efficient blue and white LEDs based on GaN. However, UV LEDs based on high Al-content AlGaN still have relatively low efficiencies due to many compounding factors. One of the largest components is the low light extraction efficiency (LEE), which currently limits the overall efficiency of devices to single digit percentages. The high index of refraction of the LED layers causes total internal reflection (TIR), where generated photons are reflected back into the LED layers where they are ultimately absorbed. Ever more complex surface modifications are proposed to reduce these losses, with limited success. In this study, it is shown that the index of refraction and TIR is not the limiting factor for light extraction but is instead bulk absorption in LED layers and in the substrate. Ray tracing simulations were developed in MatLab to investigate the effect of several factors on LEE, including the absorption coefficient and index of refraction of LED layers and the substrate, contact reflectivity, and the inclusion or exclusion of a GaN contact layer. These factors were studied in conjunction with the effect of roughening the extraction surface to reduce TIR. The simulation predicts that roughening the surface of an LED with a GaN contact layer will increase the LEE by 40 percent. Further, it was found that through removing the absorptive GaN contact layer and properly minimizing bulk absorption in the substrate, the light extraction efficiency can be improved by more than 10x. These simulations were verified experimentally for a UV LED grown on a native AlN substrate. A simple wet etch procedure using a KOH solution to roughen the extraction surface is proposed. Since N-polar AlN is selectively etched by KOH with a 900:1 ratio (1), this procedure effectively ensures no damage to the epitaxial surface. Pyramidal structures with dimensions on the order of 1 μm are formed on the extraction surface of the LED to increase photon scattering events and reduce losses due to TIR. After ten minutes of etching, the LEE of the device increased by 50 percent, validating the simulation results for devices with a GaN contact layer. This work points the way to overall efficiencies of greater than 40% in UVC LEDs and definitively shows that low LEE is due to absorption and not the high index of refraction in AlGaN based LEDs. 1. Guo, W. et al. Comparative study of etching high crystalline quality AlN and GaN. Journal of Crystal Growth 366, 20–25 (2013).

Demystifying Light Extraction Efficiency in AlGaN Based UV LEDs

β-gallium oxide (β-Ga2O3) is a promising semiconductor for power device applications owing to its ultra-wide bandgap (4.8 eV) and high breakdown field (8 MV/cm). The high-power performances of the vertical-type Schottky barrier diodes (SBDs) have been demonstrated. However, killer defects are the potential leakage current paths which lowered the off-state voltages and degrade the SBD. [1,2] Therefore, identifying the killer defects and their generation mechanism is essential to enhance the SBD performance. In this talk, we reveal the identification of the killer defects in halide vapor phase epitaxial (HVPE) (001) β-Ga2O3 SBDs using ultrahigh sensitive emission microscopy and synchrotron X-ray topography. The N-type β-Ga2O3 epitaxial layer was grown by HVPE on an n-type 4" EFG-grown (001) single-crystal wafer substrate. The net donor doping density, ND NA, was ca. 1016 cm−3. The epitaxial thickness was approximately 10 μm. Vertical-type SBDs were fabricated. For the ohmic contact, Ti/Au was evaporated on the entire back face. For the Schottky barrier (SB) contacts, Ni/Au was evaporated on the surface. The SBDs were observed by using Synchrotron X-ray topography, emission microscopy, SEM, and STEM. The current-voltage (I-V) characteristics of the Ga2O3 SBD showed that SBD exhibited a leakage current of 0.46 μA at a reverse bias of 100 V. However, emission patterns were observing during the I-V measurements and five emission spots were appeared in the squircle-shaped SBD with the width of 1600 μm (area of 2.37 × 10−2 cm2). Emission spots are corresponding to the reverse leakage current paths. Further investigation on these emission spots of the crystal using SEM showed a surface defect accompanies (100) cracks with a straight line along [100]. Next, cross-sectional STEM observation was performed. Dislocations were found to be propagated along [100] direction at a depth of 0.5 μm below the surface. In conclusion, we have found killer defects that act as leakage current paths in HVPE (001) β-Ga2O3 SBD. The defects contain (100) cracks and dislocations along [100] direction. [1] S. Sdoeung, M. Kasu, et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 120, 092101 (2022). [2] S. Sdoeung, M. Kasu, et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 120, 122107 (2022).

Killer Defects Responsible for Leakage Current in HVPE (001) β-Ga2O3 SBD Observed by Emission Microscopy and Synchrotron X-Ray Topography

Under high electric field, wavefunctions of electrons and holes leak into the bandgap, then, a semiconductor exhibits the tailing and oscillation in an optical absorption coefficient for below-bandgap (hv < Eg) and above-bandgap (hv > Eg) light, respectively. This is so called the Franz-Keldysh (FK) effect. The FK effect is often used as a powerful tool to investigate physical properties of materials. The understanding of the optical absorption characteristics under high electric field is very important toward various characterizations. In this study, we investigated the voltage dependence of the photocurrent in a β-Ga2O3 Schottky barrier diode under below-bandgap light illumination. Significant increase in photocurrent was observed, which is explained by the electro-absorption induced by the FK effect quantitatively. Figure 1 shows a schematic cross-section of a β-Ga2O3 Schottky barrier diode (SBD) fabricated in this study. The Si and Cl doped 10 μm thick n-type β-Ga2O3 layer was grown by hydride vapor phase epitaxy (HVPE) on a single-crystal (001)-oriented Sn-doped β-Ga2O3 bulk substrate. The threading dislocation density of the β-Ga2O3 substrate was less than104 cm-2. The carrier concentration of the substrate is approximately the 1×1018 cm-3. After the epitaxial growth, a Ti (50 nm)/Au (200 nm) metal stack was deposited on the surface of the epitaxial layer as Ohmic electrodes, and rapid thermal annealing (RTA) was performed in 450°C N2 ambient for 1 min. A Ni (20 nm)/Au (500 nm) metal stack was deposited on the surface of the epitaxial layer as Schottky electrodes. The measured device has a circular electrode with a 400 um diameter. Before the reverse-biased photocurrent measurements, current-voltage (I-V), capacitance-voltage (C-V) and internal photoemission (IPE) were carried out to characterize the Schottky barrier height of Ni/β-Ga2O3 interface. Figures 2, 3 and 4 shows the forward I-V, C-V and IPE characteristics of the SBD, respectively. The ideality factor of 1.03 was obtained from the I-V measurement, suggesting that the device showed nearly ideal thermionic emission transport. From the C-V measurement, the net donor concentration of 6.5×1015 cm-3 and its uniform distribution along the depth were confirmed. From these three measurements, the consistent and reliable barrier height of 1.16-1.17 eV was obtained, indicating that the Schottky interface has very high homogeneity. Figure 5 shows the reverse voltage dependence of the photocurrent in the β-Ga2O3 SBD under the monochromatic illumination with the wavelength of 275-300 nm (the band width is 5 nm). The irradiated light penetrated into β-Ga2O3 around top electrodes. The light reached the Schottky interface from the backside through multiple reflection. The light with photon energy higher than the Schottky barrier height causes IPE, resulting the photocurrent. The photocurrent originating from IPE has very small voltage dependence, since the barrier height is lowered by image force with increasing electric field near the Schottky interface. However, the photocurrent showed significant increase with reverse voltage. The increase was more striking as the wavelength approached to the fundamental absorption edge of β-Ga2O3. These voltage and wavelength dependences of the photocurrent indicate that the photocurrent is originating from the optical absorption induced by the FK effect. We calculated the photocurrent by considering the optical absorption induced by the FK effect in the depletion layer based on Aspnes’s theory. In the calculation, the material parameters of β-Ga2O3 were used, which is summarized in Table I. Figure 6 shows the comparison between the experimental data (open circles) and the calculated photocurrent (red broken lines). The calculated curves show excellent agreement with the experimental data. These results are very useful for optical absorption in β-Ga2O3 devices under high electric field such as a photomultiplication measurement [1, 2].

Photocurrent Induced by Franz-Keldysh Effect in β-Ga2O3 Schottky Barrier Diode Under High Reverse Bias Voltage

Gallium oxide has rapidly advanced as a material for high-power electronics and optically blind photodetectors, due not only to its wide band gap and availability of melt-grown substrates, but also its dopability with n-type doping being demonstrated from 1014 cm-3-1022 cm-3. However, numerous reports have shown dopant compensation when annealing in temperatures greater or equal to 1000 oC. To further device development, it is critical to understand the compensation mechanism, and to study defect formation and diffusion. It is of course difficult to study the diffusion of native defects such as gallium vacancies (VGa); typically isotope diffusion experiments are conducted. It is also of high interest to investigate the mechanisms by which native defects are introduced; does the material generate them homogeneously in its bulk or are they generated at surfaces? Do vacancies diffuse alone or as complexes with other defects? We sought an alternate method to determine the introduction and diffusion of Ga vacancies. We began with the hypothesis that Al could be used as a tracer for cation vacancy diffusion because of the assumption that Al would diffuse primarily substitutionally via cation vacancies. We designed superlattices of alternating epitaxial layers of Al0.1Ga1.9O3 / Ga2O3 deposited on both Sn- and Fe-doped (010) β-Ga2O3 substrates. The presence of many repeated layers diffusing during the same experiment can be used to reveal gradients in the diffusion constant vs depth and time, which in turn can indicate the direction of vacancy flux from the source. Dynamic Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (D-SIMS) profiles were collected before and after annealing in O2 at 1000-1100 oC. A novel transient simulation of vacancy- mediated diffusion was developed in Matlab to model the evolution of Al profiles under different scenarios of transient vacancy diffusion. A surprising finding is that there was no evidence of vacancy injection from the free surface, but that a large flux of vacancies flows into the superlattices from Sn-doped substrates. In the case of superlattices on Fe-doped substrates, no such flux is detected and the diffusion constant of Al is uniform and much smaller in depth, consistent with smaller uniform vacancy concentrations or other non-vacancy-mediated diffusion mechanisms. We present our results for the diffusion constant of VGa or its dominant complex mediating Al diffusion as well as the diffusivity for Al by the vacancy mechanism. The role of macroscopic crystallographic defects on the diffusion results was explored via ToF-SIMS 3D reconstructions and shown to be negligible under well-chosen conditions. Meanwhile, we also investigated the diffusion of Sn and Fe from the wafers into the superlattices. We provide a lower bound for the Sn diffusion coefficient, and discuss the strong possibility that it retards the diffusion of VGa by complexation. Fe profiles are very complex and evolve via multiple diffusion channels. We provide the diffusion coefficient for the slower channel, and model the faster surface pile-up by interaction with surface potential.

Measuring Diffusion of Al, Sn, and Fe in Ga2O3 Using β-(Al,Ga)2O3/Ga2O3 Superlattices

Alloying β-Ga2O3 with Al2O3 to create (AlxGa1-x)2O3 enables ultra-wide bandgap material suitable for applications deep into the ultraviolet. In this work, photoluminescence (PL) spectra of Cr3+ were investigated in monoclinic single crystal β-Ga2O3:Cr, and 10 mol.% Al2O3 alloyed with β-Ga2O3, denoted β-(Al0.1Ga0.9)2O3 or AGO. Temperature-dependent PL properties were studied for Cr3+ in AGO and β-Ga2O3 from 295 K to 16 K. For both materials at room temperature, the red-line emission doublet R1 and R2 occurs at 696 nm (1.78 eV) and 690 nm (1.80 eV), respectively, along with a broad emission band at 709 nm (1.75 eV). The linewidths for AGO are larger for all temperatures due to alloy broadening. For both materials, the R-lines blue-shift with decreasing temperature. The (lowest energy) R1 line is dominant at low temperatures due to the thermal population of the levels. For temperatures above ~50 K, however, the ratio of R2 to R1 peak areas is dominated by nonradiative combination. Additionally, Hall effect measurements were taken at low and elevated temperatures which demonstrated n-type behavior. Two different activation energies were identified, 57 meV associated with the Cr level, and 26 meV associated with an impurity band at lower temperatures.

Photoluminescence Spectroscopy of Cr3+ in β-Ga2O3 and (Al0.1Ga0.9)2O3

Ferroelectrics functioning at reduced dimensionality have long been pursued for the rich physics behind, including domain wall motion and energy transfer, charge compensation, phase stability, strain and interface coupling, as well as the devices enabled for highly scaled, energy efficient, multifunctional memory/sensing/computing devices and architectures. The emergent nitride ferroelectrics, including ScAlN and ScGaN, have been proposed as promising ferroelectrics with wide and tunable bandgap, large polarization and high tunable coercive field, with potentially high compatibility with both GaN and Si technology. For this new class of ferroelectrics, the ferroelectric wurtzite phase is energetically stable at room temperature, making it highly possible to maintain ferroelectric order in nitride ferroelectrics even at extremely reduced dimensionality. In this work, the thickness scaling down behavior of ScAlN thin films in the thickness range of 100 nm to 5 nm, has been studied to reveal the ferroelectric order in nitride ferroelectrics at reduced dimensionality. The ScAlN samples were grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) on CMOS-compatible Mo/Si substrates. Reflection high energy electron diffraction (RHEED), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) confirmed the wurtzite structure of the as-grown films. The ferroelectric properties of the as-grown films have been confirmed and investigated by capacitance-voltage (C-V) loops and positive-up-negative-down (PUND) measurements. An increase in the coercive field and a significant reduction of remnant polarization are found when the ferroelectric layer is scaled down to below 20 nm. Significantly, a switching voltage of 2-3.8 V, and a saturated remnant polarization of ~23 µC/cm2 are measured in ~ 5 nm thick ScAlN. X-ray diffractions and transmission electron microscopy studies suggest that the increase in the coercive field and diminishment in switchable polarization can be attributed to the naturally formed surface oxide and the compressive strain in ultrathin ScAlN films due to a larger in-plane lattice constant of ScAlN compared to Mo (011). Our work sheds light on the fundamental thickness-scaling properties of epitaxial ferroelectric ScAlN thin films and paves the way for next-generation compact and power-efficient devices and applications based on nitride ferroelectrics.

Epitaxial Ferroelectric ScAlN—Thickness Scaling to the Nanometer Scale

Extreme bandgap (EBG) semiconductors such as AlxGa1-xN (x>0.6, bandgap energy EG > 4.88 eV) are ideal for high power, high voltage, and high temperature power electronics. Their critical breakdown field (Ec) in lateral devices scales as EG2.5, leads to an estimated value of the Baliga’s Figure of Merit (BFOM) significantly higher than that for GaN[1],[2],[3],[4] For achieving high BFOM, in addition to a large breakdown voltage (VBR), a simultaneous low device specific ON-resistance(RON,SP) is also required. For the EBG AlxGa1-xN channel HEMTs to have a low RON,SP , a 2-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) concentration >1x1013 cm-2 is needed, requiring a barrier AlxGa1-xN layer with x > 0.80. At such high value of “x”, it is challenging to make linear ohmic contacts due to large Schottky barrier height between metal-AlGaN interface. To solve these issues, we demonstrate EBG n-Al0.87Ga0.13N-Al0.64Ga0.36N heterostructures over bulk AlN substrate grown by Low Pressure-MOCVD. To facilitate ohmic contact formation, highly doped reverse-graded AlGaN layer(x=0.87 to 0.40) was grown in-situ. Reciprocal Space Map(105) and AFM analysis revealed pseudomorphic epilayers with step-flow morphology and RMS roughness ~0.18 nm. X-Ray Topography estimation of control sample gave us a TDD ~ 7 x 103 cm-2, indicating the high quality of our pseudomorphic epilayers. A planar Zr-based metal stack was deposited and subsequent removal of the reverse graded n-AlxGa1-xN layer in the access region gave linear ohmic contacts, RC~4.3 Ω-mm. Additionally, planar metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) diodes were fabricated and 2-terminal gate-source breakdown measurement was performed. A VBR of 739 V was measured at metal flashover point for 0.65 µm gate-source spacing, giving an electric field value ~ 11.37 MV/cm. From the breakdown data and the RON,SP (~2.4 × 10-4 Ω-cm2) value, we estimate the BFOM for our EBG n-Al0.87Ga0.13N-A0.64Ga0.36N heterostructures to be as high as 2.27 GW/cm2. This, to the best of our knowledge is the highest reported value to date for an extreme bandgap AlxGa1-xN (x>0.6) channel heterostructure.[5] References [1] B. J. Baliga, IEEE Electron Dev. Lett., 10, 455 (1989). [2] R. J. Kaplar, A. A. Allerman, A. M. Armstrong, M. H. Crawford, J. Ray Dickerson, A. J. Fischer, A. G. Baca, and E. A. Douglas, ECS J. Solid State Sci., 6, Q3061 (2016). [3] T. Nanjo, A. Imai, Y. Suzuki, Y. Abe, T. Oishi, M. Suita, E. Yagyu, and Y. Tokuda, IEEE Trans. Electron Devices, 60, 1046 (2013). [4] N. Yafune, S. Hashimoto, K. Akita, Y. Yamamoto, H. Tokuda, and M. Kuzuhara, Electronics Lett., 50, 211 (2014) [5] K. Hussain et al., Appl. Phys. Express (2023)

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