L. Rimai

Optical and electrical properties of Al1−xInxN films grown by plasma source molecular-beam epitaxy

Epitaxial Al1−xInxN thin films with 0⩽x⩽1 have been grown by plasma source molecular beam epitaxy on sapphire (0001) substrates at a low temperature of 375 °C. Both reflection high-energy electron diffraction and x-ray diffraction measurements confirm the c-plane growth with the following epitaxial relations: nitride [0001] ∥ sapphire [0001] and nitride 〈0110〉 ∥ sapphire 〈2110〉. However, the degree of crystalline mosaicity and the compositional fluctuation increase with increasing x. The observed direct energy band gap, determined using optical transmission and reflection measurements show relatively less bowing compared to some earlier studies. Electrical resistivity and Hall effect measurements show n-type electrical conductivity in these alloys with carrier concentrations n⩾1019 cm−3 for In-rich alloys and n⩽1010 cm−3 for Al-rich alloys.

Pd/AlN/SiC thin-film devices for selective hydrogen sensing

A hydrogen sensing device has been fabricated using a 1500- A-thick AlN layer interposed between a SiC substrate and a Pd gate. This device behaves as a rectifying diode. Hydrogen in the gas flow causes a shift in the forward conduction and the sensitivity of the device is found to increase with the total flow rate. At a device temperature of 300 °C and a flow rate of 1000 sccm, the typical forward current of ∼1 mA increases by 10% for 10 ppm hydrogen, independent of the presence of oxygen or CO in the gas flow. The shift is also independent of the presence of propane. However, for very large concentrations of propane a slight response can be discerned, due to the presence of some hydrogen resulting from the incipient decomposition of the hydrocarbon at elevated temperature.

Ultraviolet and visible resonance-enhanced Raman scattering in epitaxial Al1−xInxN thin films

We report the observation of ultraviolet and visible near-resonance enhanced Raman scattering in epitaxial wurtzite Al1−xInxN (0001) (0⩽x<0.7) thin films. The films (thickness∼150 nm) were grown by plasma source molecular beam epitaxy on sapphire (0001) substrates. A substantial spectral enhancement is seen for Al-rich samples using 244 nm (5.01 eV) radiation due to the closeness of their band gap energy to the excitation energy. On the other hand, samples with x∼0.6 (energy band gap ∼2.5 eV) show significant enhancement with 514.5 nm (2.41 eV) excitation. The A1(LO) and E2 zone center phonons have been observed for all the samples. The A1(LO) phonon frequency shows the expected decrease with increasing x. The E2 mode shows a two-mode behavior supporting the recent theoretical predictions. Due to increased resonance enhancement, strong second- and third-order spectra are seen in some films.

Pd/AlN/Si or SiC Structure for Hydrogen Sensing Device

An AlN (insulator) MIS Hydrogen Sensor was created using plasma source molecular beam epitaxy (PSMBE) deposition on Si (111) and 6H-SiC. A Pd layer was deposited on top of the AlN film via magnetron sputtering technique utilizing a hard mask. Pd was chosen since H 2 readily diffuses within its bulk, thus Pd acts not only as a metal electrode of the MIS structure, but also as a catalyst for hydrogen dissociation. To optimize the design structure several sensors with different AlN and Pd thickness have been developed. RHEED and XRD measurements show that AlN film is epitaxial on both Si (111) and 6H-SiC substrates. The sensors were characterized using capacitance versus voltage C(V) and I(V) measurements, at different frequencies ranging from 1kHz to 1 MHz. Shifts in the C-V and I-V curves occurred with the introduction of hydrogen in the chamber. The temperature, hydrogen partial pressure, effects of oxygen and hydrocarbon gases, insulator and metal thicknesses on sensor response were analyzed.

The Electrical Behavior of Pd/AIN/Semiconductor Thin Film Hydrogen Sensing Structures

The device on Si substrates behaves as an MIS capacitor and the response to hydrogen is given by a shift of the capacitance vs. bias profile along the bias voltage axis, whereas the device on SiC behaves as a rectifying diode and the presence of hydrogen causes a shift of the forward current vs. voltage plot. The relatively large forward current, in both cases, indicates that there is measurable electrical transport across the AlN layer, but at the same temperature the turn on bias is different. Either structure contains two rectifying contacts in series, namely a Schottky contact between Pd and AlN and a heterojunction between AlN and the substrate.

The sensing mechanism and the response simulation of the MIS hydrogen sensor

The pure Pd and Pd alloy gated metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) hydrogen sensors have been studied. The chemical state of palladium in Pd and Pd alloy gated devices is similar and Pd alloy devices show a wide dynamic range. According to the hydrogen induced capacitance-voltage ( CV) shift and the response from a refreshed sensor, a new sensing mechanism is proposed that the hydrogen response is due to the protons on the metal/insulator interface and some of the protons take a long time to be desorbed from the interface. Based on this mechanism, a one-dimensional model is constructed with the consideration of the series resistance and fixed positive charges to simulate the CV/GV curves and hydrogen response from the Pd-Cr gated device.

Residual Stresses in TiO 2 Anatase Thin Films Deposited on Glass, Sapphire and Si Substrates

Anatase-TiO2 films (thickness 100-1000 nm) were grown on glass, sapphire, and Si(100) substrates using pulsed dc-magnetron reactive sputtering. By measuring the curvature of substrates before and after the thin film deposition, the residual stresses were determined. These results clearly show that the bi-axial stresses are compressive type and decreases with the increasing film thickness. The Raman spectra of these films were measured with two different excitation wavelengths (514 and 785 nm) and the thickness dependent shifts of Eg phonon mode were studied. The dominant 144 cm -1 Eg mode in TiO2 anatase clearly shifts to a higher value by 0.45 to 17.4 cm -1 depending on the type of substrate and the thickness of the film. Maximum shift was seen for the films on glass substrate indicating a higher bi-axial compressive stress in agreement with the curvature measurements. The excitation wavelength dependent shift of Eg mode clearly shows that the bi-axial stress increases along the film depth, being larger at the film/substrate interface.