Rangarajan Muralidharan

Microwave irradiation-assisted deposition of Ga2O3 on III-nitrides for deep-UV opto-electronics

We report on the deposition of gallium oxide using microwave irradiation technique on III nitride epi layers. We also report on the first demonstration of a gallium oxide device, a visible blind deep UV detector, with GaN based heterostructure as the substrate. The film deposited in the solution medium, at less than 200 C, using a metalorganic precursor, was nanocrystalline. XRD confirms that as deposited film when annealed at high temperature turns polycrystalline beta gallium oxide. SEM shows the as deposited film to be uniform, with a surface roughness of 4 to 5 nm, as revealed by AFM. Interdigitated metal semiconductor metal MSM devices with Ni,Au contact exhibited peak spectral response at 230 nm and a good visible rejection ratio. This first demonstration of a deep-UV detector on beta-gallium oxide on III nitride stack is expected to open up new possibilities of functional and physical integration of beta gallium oxide and GaN material families towards enabling next generation high performance devices by exciting band and heterostructure engineering.

Trap assisted avalanche instability and safe operating area concerns in AlGaN/GaN HEMTs

This work reports the very first systematic study on the physics of avalanche instability and SOA concerns in AlGaN/GaN HEMT using sub-μs pulse characterization, post stress degradation analysis, well calibrated TCAD simulations and failure analysis by SEM and TEM. Impact of electrical, as well as thermal effects on SOA boundary and avalanche instability are investigated. Trap assisted cumulative nature of degradation is studied in detail, which was discovered to be the root cause for avalanche instability in AlGaN/GaN HEMTs. Post failure SEM/TEM analysis reveal distinct failure modes in presence and absence of carrier trapping.

UV detector based on InAlN/GaN-on-Si HEMT stack with photo-to-dark current ratio > 107

We demonstrate an InAlN/GaN-on-Si high electron mobility transistor based UV detector with a photo-to-dark current ratio of  >107. The Ti/Al/Ni/Au metal stack was evaporated and thermal annealed rapidly for Ohmic contacts to the 2D electron gas (2DEG) at the InAlN/GaN interface, while the channel + barrier was recess etched to a depth of 20 nm to pinch-off the 2DEG between Source-Drain pads. A spectral responsivity (SR) of 32.9 A/W at 367 nm was measured at 5 V. A very high photo-to-dark current ratio of >107 was measured at a bias of 20 V. The photo-to-dark current ratio at a fixed bias was found to be decreasing with an increase in the recess length of photodetectors. The fabricated devices were found to exhibit a UV-to-visible rejection ratio of >103 with a low dark current of 107. The Ti/Al/Ni/Au metal stack was evaporated and thermal annealed rapidly for Ohmic contacts to the 2D electron gas (2DEG) at the InAlN/GaN interface, while the channel + barrier was recess etched to a depth of 20 nm to pinch-off the 2DEG between Source-Drain pads. A spectral responsivity (SR) of 32.9 A/W at 367 nm was measured at 5 V. A very high photo-to-dark current ratio of >107 was measured at a bias of 20 V. The photo-to-dark current ratio at a fixed bias was found to be decreasing with an increase in the recess length of photodetectors. The fabricated devices were found to exhibit a UV-to-visible rejection ratio of >103 with a low dark current of < 32 pA at 5 V. Transient measurements showed rise and fall times in the range of 3–4 ms. The gain mechanism was investigated, and carrier lifetimes were estimated which matched well with those reported elsewhere.