H. Witte

High Si and Ge n-type doping of GaN doping - Limits and impact on stress

We report on GaN n-type doping using silane, germane, and isobutylgermane as Si and Ge dopants, respectively. A significant increase in tensile stress during growth is observed for Si doped samples while this is not the case for Ge doping. In addition, Ge can be doped up to 2.9 × 1020 cm−3, while Si doping leads to 3-D growth already at concentrations around 1.9 × 1019 cm−3. The free carrier concentration was determined by Hall-effect measurements, crystal quality, and structural properties by x-ray diffraction measurements. Additionally, secondary ion mass spectroscopy and Raman measurements were performed demonstrating the high material quality of Ge doped samples.

Unstrained InAlN/GaN HEMT structure

InAlN has been investigated as barrier layer material for GaN-HEMT structures, potentially offering higher sheet charge densities (Kuzmik, 2002) and higher breakdown fields (Kuzmik, 2001). Lattice matched growth of the barrier layer can be achieved with 17% in content, avoiding piezo polarization. In this configuration the sheet charge density is only induced by spontaneous polarization. First experimental results of unpassivated undoped samples realized on 111-Si substrate exceed a DC output current density of 1.8 A/mm for a gate length of 0.5 /spl mu/m. Small signal measurements yield a f/sub t/ = 26 GHz and f/sub max/ = 14 GHz, still limited by the residual conductivity of the Si-substrate. A saturated output power at 2 GHz in class A bias point yielded a density of 4.1W/mm at V/sub DS/ = 24 V.

Analysis of deep traps in hexagonal molecular beam epitaxy-grown GaN by admittance spectroscopy

Nominally undoped GaN layers grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) and having resistivities between 105 and 107 Ω were investigated with temperature- and frequency-dependent admittance spectroscopy. The advantage of these measurement methods is shown in terms of the formation of Schottky contacts on high-resistivity GaN layers. The space-charge region, which is needed for detection of deep defects exists at low frequencies only and, therefore, deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) measurements fail for this material. Two deep defect levels were identified in MBE-grown GaN layers. The thermal activation energies are (0.45±0.04) and (0.63±0.04) eV, respectively. These deep traps are well known from DLTS and thermal stimulated conductivity measurements in metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy and hydride vapor phase epitaxy-grown GaN.

Anisotropy of effective electron masses in highly doped nonpolar GaN

The anisotropic effective electron masses in wurtzite GaN are determined by generalized infrared spectroscopic ellipsometry. Nonpolar (112¯0) oriented thin films allow accessing both effective masses, m⊥* and m∥*, by determining the screened plasma frequencies. A n-type doping range up to 1.7 × 1020 cm−3 is investigated. The effective mass ratio m⊥*/m∥* is obtained with highest accuracy and is found to be 1.11 independent on electron concentration up to 1.2 × 1020 cm−3. For higher electron concentrations, the conduction band non-parabolicity is mirrored in changes. Absolute values for effective electron masses depend on additional input of carrier concentrations determined by Hall effect measurements. We obtain m⊥*=(0.239±0.004)m0 and m∥*=(0.216±0.003)m0 for the parabolic range of the GaN conduction band. Our data are indication of a parabolic GaN conduction band up to an energy of approximately 400 meV above the conduction band minimum.

Electrical and optical properties of p-SiC/n-GaN heterostructures

Abstract We report on the optical, electrical and structural properties of GaN films heteroepitaxially grown by low pressure chemical vapor deposition on 6H-SiC substrates. We employed photoluminescence (PL), Hall effect measurements, scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and X-ray analysis to determine the quality of our films. Heterojunction diodes were fabricated on p-type SiC and characterized by temperature dependent current–voltage and capacitance–voltage techniques. The results are interpreted within the thermionic emission model and the barrier found is attributed to the conduction band offset between 6H-SiC and wurtzite GaN. The diodes show electroluminescence of the donor-acceptor pair recombination type of 6H-SiC at room temperature. By analysis of the injection behavior we can interpret our data, determining the high valence band offset between 6H-SiC and α -GaN to 0.67 eV. This high valence band offset favors applications for hetero-bipolar transistors (HBT).

In vitro stimulation of neurons by a planar Ti–Au-electrode interface

We report on the realization of a planar large area electrode interface which reproducibly allows the global excitation of neurons and the generation of stimulated network activity. The interface is formed by two double finger-shaped Ti–Au-electrodes without any isolating coating deposited by electron beam evaporation on microscope cover slips. Dissociated nerve cells from embryonic rat cerebral cortex were cultured on these electrodes forming electrophysiologically active networks within seven days of culture. These networks were electrically excited by application of voltage pulses, resulting either in an activity of single neurons or in a stimulated synchronous network activity in dependence on the pulse parameters. The impact of these parameters, such as the number of pulses, the pulse amplitude and the delay between distinct pulse events, on the stimulation success was systematically investigated. We found threshold values for the voltage pulse amplitude of 1.8–2.2 V and for the voltage pulse duratio...

Extracting accurate capacitance voltage curves from impedance spectroscopy

We propose a method to obtain accurate capacitance-voltage (C-V) curves in the presence of multiple space charges. This method uses impedance spectroscopy to evaluate individual space charges separately. The advantage is that the knowledge of the exact equivalent circuit is not essentially needed. The comparison with other methods to calculate the doping concentration NA shows that our method is unaffected by series resistances and agrees best with the correct value of NA. The evaluation of the impedance spectra leads to a more thorough understanding of the respective Mott-Schottky plots.

Photoelectric properties of the 0.44 eV deep level-to-band transition in gallium nitride investigated by optical admittance spectroscopy

In GaN layers grown by molecular beam epitaxy and metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy on c-axis oriented sapphire, a defect-to-band transition at a photon energy of 0.44 eV was found by optical admittance spectroscopy. This transition was investigated as a function of temperature and modulation frequency. The height of the corresponding optical admittance peak shows a thermally activated quenching with an activation energy of 0.460.1 eV caused by a thermal carrier emission from the same defect state to the conduction band at higher temperatures. Based on this thermal quenching, the 0.44 eV level is assigned to an electron trap located in the upper half of the gap. The spectral photoionization cross section was determined, resulting in a photoionization energy at 80 K estimated to be below 0.425 eV. The omnipresence of the 0.44 eV electron trap in GaN layers grown by various epitaxial techniques and in different reactors implicates its intrinsic nature.

Characterization of electronic states in molecular beam epitaxy grown GaN by optical admittance spectroscopy: Comparison of different nitrogen plasma sources

Optical transitions between the bands and electronic states in n-type GaN layers grown by molecular beam epitaxy on sapphire substrates using an electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) or a radio frequency (rf) nitrogen plasma source were investigated by means of optical admittance spectroscopy. The spectra of all layers similarly consist of a band gap region, a blue and a yellow band, and several defect-to-band transitions. However, in rf grown layers distinct transitions are separable, whereas ECR grown samples reveal broad bands, originating from potential fluctuations due to structural inhomogeneities induced by the ECR source. A defect at 0.82 eV is found characteristic for all ECR samples.

Metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy of ZnO: towards p-type conductivity

The promising II-VI-semiconductor ZnO has achieved strong interest in research in the past years. Especially, epitaxial growth by metal organic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE) is a matter of particular interest due to the large scalability of MOVPE for commercial mass production and its proven high layer quality for other compound semiconductors. In the past years tremendous advance has been made in the field of epitaxial growth. However, due to the lack of epiready ZnO substrates, so far mostly heteroepitaxial growth with a multistep growth process was applied to obtain good surface morphology and until now not all of the physical properties of such multilayers are fully understood. In this paper we present recent results of the electrical behavior of such multiple undoped ZnO layers. Despite numerous efforts one big challenge is the p-type doping of ZnO. Here we present our results to doping experiments with arsenic, nitrogen and as a new approach simultaneous dual doping of nitrogen and arsenic. Homoepitaxial growth offers a great potential for ZnO due to some advantages as the absence of thermal and lattice mismatch and potentially low dislocation density. We present experiments on the thermal treatment of commercial ZnO bulk crystals, which is necessary for subsequent homo- MOVPE.