Current conduction mechanism of Pt/GaN and Pt/Al 0.35 Ga 0.65 N Schottky diodes Jong Kyu Kim, Ho Won Jang, and Jong-Lam Lee Citation: Journal of Applied Physics 94, 7201 (2003); doi: 10.1063/1.1625101 View online: http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.1625101 View Table of Contents: http://scitation.aip.org/content/aip/journal/jap/94/11?ver=pdfcov Published by the AIP Publishing Articles you may be interested in Current transport mechanisms in lattice-matched Pt/Au-InAlN/GaN Schottky diodes J. Appl. Phys. 117, 154503 (2015); 10.1063/1.4917566 Reversible barrier height changes in hydrogen-sensitive Pd/GaN and Pt/GaN diodes Appl. Phys. Lett. 82, 739 (2003); 10.1063/1.1541944 Reduction of reverse-bias leakage current in Schottky diodes on GaN grown by molecular-beam epitaxy using surface modification with an atomic force microscope J. Appl. Phys. 91, 9821 (2002); 10.1063/1.1478793 Hydrogen response mechanism of Pt–GaN Schottky diodes Appl. Phys. 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Downloaded to ] IP: 119.202.87.44 On: Fri, 22 May 2015 02:17:52 JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSICS VOLUME 94, NUMBER 11 1 DECEMBER 2003 Current conduction mechanism of PtÕGaN and PtÕAl0.35Ga0.65N Schottky diodes Jong Kyu Kim, Ho Won Jang, and Jong-Lam Leea) Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), Pohang, Kyungbuk 790-784, Korea 共Received 9 June 2003; accepted 18 September 2003兲 Electrical properties of Pt/Alx Ga1⫺x N Schottky diodes and chemical bonding states of Alx Ga1⫺x N surface were examined simultaneously to investigate the change in the current transport mechanisms of the Pt/Alx Ga1⫺x N diodes with increasing Al mole fraction. The Pt/GaN diodes showed electrical properties given by the thermionic-emission theory, while the Pt/Al0.35Ga0.65N showed a nonideal Schottky behavior. The oxygen donors were predominantly incorporated at the surface of Alx Ga1⫺x N with increasing Al mole fraction, causing the surface to be heavily doped n type. Consequently, the current transport in the Pt/Al0.35Ga0.65N diodes was dominated by the field emission of electrons through the Schottky barrier, leading to the nonideal Schottky behavior. © 2003 American Institute of Physics. 关DOI: 10.1063/1.1625101兴 I. INTRODUCTION Alx Ga1⫺x N-based devices are currently under intense study for applications in visible-blind ultraviolet photodetectors and high-power high-frequency electronic devices, such as Alx Ga1⫺x N/GaN heterostructure field effect transistors 共HFETs兲.1,2 Understanding the electrical properties of Schottky contacts on Alx Ga1⫺x N is one of the key elements for the successful design and fabrication of both types of devices. For the realization of true solar-blind Alx Ga1⫺x N ultraviolet photodetectors with a short cutoff wavelength 共⬍275 nm兲, an Al mole fraction as high as ⬃0.4 is required.3 In addition, an Al mole fraction larger than ⬃0.2 is required in order to maximize the two-dimensional electron gas density in a HFET channel. However, it was reported that the Schottky contacts to Alx Ga1⫺x N showed nonideal Schottky behaviors when the Al mole fraction was higher than ⬃0.2.4 –7 The ideality factor 共n兲 of Ni/Alx Ga1⫺x N diodes increased from 1.12 to 1.37 as the Al mole fraction increased from 0 to 0.23.4 When the Al mole fraction was 0.4, n was as high as 3.5.7 Similar results were reported for Ni/Alx Ga1⫺x N (x⫽0, 0.15) 共Ref. 5兲 and Re/Alx Ga1⫺x N (x ⫽0, 0.16, 0.26) 共Ref. 6兲 Schottky diodes. Furthermore, the Schottky barrier height 关共SBH兲 b ] largely deviated from the theoretically predicted value at a high Al mole fraction.4 These experimental results suggest that the current transport mechanism in metal/Alx Ga1⫺x N Schottky diodes changes with increasing the Al mole fraction. However, no report on the origin of the nonideal Schottky behaviors of the metal/ Alx Ga1⫺x N Schottky diodes with a high Al mole fraction has been made experimentally so far. In Alx Ga1⫺x N, oxygen atoms occupying nitrogen sites, ON, act as a shallow donor, but cation vacancies (VGa ,VAl) act as triple acceptors.8 The O donors compensate with the cation vacancies to form VGa –ON and/or VAl –ON a兲 Electronic mail: [email protected] complexes.9 Because Al has a strong affinity for oxygen,10,11 the concentration of these complexes may increase when Al mole fraction increases. Therefore, at a high Al mole fraction, both the O donor and the complexes, localized near the surface of Alx Ga1⫺x N, could play a critical role in inducing the nonideal behavior of the metal/Alx Ga1⫺x N Schottky diodes. In the present study, we studied the current transport mechanism of Pt/Alx Ga1⫺x N Schottky diodes with an Al mole fraction through investigating the relation between the electrical properties of the Schottky diodes and the evolution of chemical bonding states at Alx Ga1⫺x N surface. The current–voltage (I – V) and capacitance–voltage (C – V) characteristics were measured in order to examine the electrical properties of Pt/GaN and Pt/Al0.35Ga0.65N Schottky diodes. The evolution of chemical bonding states with an Al mole fraction was analyzed using synchrotron radiation photoemission spectroscopy 共SRPES兲. From these results, the origin of the nonideal Schottky behaviors of the Alx Ga1⫺x N Schottky diodes with a high Al mole fraction is proposed. II. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE GaN and Alx Ga1⫺x N films used in this study were grown on a c-plane sapphire substrate by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. GaN films with a thickness of 1.5 m were initially grown, and then 1-m-thick Alx Ga1⫺x N layers with a different Al mole fraction were grown on the GaN films. The Al mole fractions in the Alx Ga1⫺x N were determined to be x⫽0, 0.12, 0.22, 0.33, and 0.35 using the high-resolution x-ray diffraction method. The electron concentration was measured to be 5.1⫻1016 cm⫺3 for GaN film and 1.0⫻1018 cm⫺3 for Al0.35Ga0.65N by the Hall-effect measurements. Pt Schottky diodes were fabricated on both the GaN and the Al0.35Ga0.65N films using a photolithographic technique. At first, Ti/Al/Ni/Au 共300/1200/400/500 Å兲 ohmic contact metals were deposited in sequence on both photoresist- 0021-8979/2003/94(11)/7201/5/$20.00 7201 © 2003 American Institute of Physics [This article is copyrighted as indicated in the article. Reuse of AIP content is subject to the terms at: http://scitation.aip.org/termsconditions. Downloaded to ] IP: 119.202.87.44 On: Fri, 22 May 2015 02:17:52 7202 J. Appl. Phys., Vol. 94, No. 11, 1 December 2003 patterned samples using electron-beam 共e-beam兲 evaporation, followed by dipping into acetone to remove the metals deposited on the photoresist. After the lift off of metals on the photoresist, the ohmic metals were annealed using a rapid thermal annealing system at 600 °C for 1 min under a N2 ambient. Then, Pt共100 Å兲 Schottky contact 共50⫻50 m2兲 was deposited using e-beam evaporation. The vacuum condition of the evaporator was maintained lower than 3 ⫻10⫺7 Torr during metal depositions. The Pt Schottky contact was surrounded by the Ti/Al/Ni/Au ohmic contact. The gap spacing between the ohmic and Schottky contacts was 20 m. Prior to the deposition of metals, all of the samples were dipped in the HCl solution for 2 min, followed by cleaning in deionized water. Note that no oxygen plasma cleaning to remove polymeric residue was carried out in this study because the plasma-induced damages could lead to severe degradation of the Schottky contact. I – V and C – V characteristics of the Schottky diodes were measured using HP 4156A semiconductor parameter analyzer and HP 4280 1 MHz C-meter, respectively. The chemical bonding states and their depth information near the surface of Alx Ga1⫺x N (x⫽0, 0.12, 0.22, and 0.33, respectively, were characterized using SRPES in the 4B1 beamline at the Pohang Accelerator Laboratory. The incident photon energies of 600 eV and 250 eV were used for obtaining core-level spectra, and valence-band spectra, respectively. For angle-resolved scans, the detection angle was varied by rotating the samples. The surface normal of the samples was set as the detection angle of 90°. The onset of photoemission was measured at a bias of ⫺20 V on the sample. The incident photon energy was calibrated with the Au 4 f core-level spectrum of a clean Au foil. The energy resolution in the measurements was 0.1 eV. III. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS Figure 1共a兲 shows the forward current density–voltage (J – V) characteristics, where J is current density, of the Pt/ GaN and the Pt/Al0.35Ga0.65N Schottky diodes. The forward J – V curves were analyzed using the equation, I ⫽AA * T 2 exp(⫺qb /kT)关exp(qV/nkT)⫺1兴, where A is the device area and A * is the effective Richardson constant. The values of q b and n were determined from the intercept and the slope of the linear region in the plot of ln(J) versus V. For calculating the A * for Al0.35Ga0.65N, we estimated m * ⫽0.27m 0 for Al0.35Ga0.65N by a linear extrapolation of m * ⫽0.35m 0 for AlN 共Ref. 11兲 and m * ⫽0.22m 0 for GaN. The q b was also determined from a linear plot of 1/C 2 versus V, as shown in Fig. 1共b兲. The values of q b and n were summarized in Table I. For the Pt/GaN diode, n is near unity, 1.06⫾0.12 eV. In addition, the q b value determined from the I – V characteristics is nearly consistent with that from the C – V considering the image force lowering for the Pt/ GaN. This indicates that the current transport in the Pt/GaN diodes is dominated by the thermionic emission of electrons over the Schottky barrier. In the meanwhile, the n for the Pt/Al0.35Ga0.65N diode is 2.11⫾0.23 eV, largely deviated from unity. Furthermore, the b value obtained from the I – V characteristics 共1.39⫾0.15 eV兲 is much smaller than Kim, Jang, and Lee FIG. 1. 共a兲 J – V curves and 共b兲 1/C 2 vs V relationship of the Pt/GaN and the Pt/Al0.35Ga0.65N Schottky diodes. The size of the Schottky contact was 50⫻50 m2. that from the C – V measurement 共2.48⫾0.06 eV兲. Such a large discrepancy could not be explained in terms of the image force lowering for the Pt/Al0.35Ga0.65N. These results suggest that the current transport mechanism in the Pt/Al0.35Ga0.65N diodes was quite different from that of the Pt/GaN diodes. Figure 2 displays Ga 3d, N 1s, Al 2 p, and O 1s corelevel spectra on the surface of Alx Ga1⫺x N (x⫽0, 0.12, 0.22, and 0.33兲, measured using SRPES. The binding energy of each element gradually shifted toward a higher binding energy with an increasing Al mole fraction, due to the increase in the band gap of Alx Ga1⫺x N. In addition, the intensity of Ga 3d decreased while that of Al 2p and O 1s increased simultaneously as the Al mole fraction increased. To examine the change in the chemical bonding states at the surface of Alx Ga1⫺x N, spectral deconvolutions of the Ga 3d and the Al 2p spectra were performed. The spectral line shape was simulated with a suitable combination of Gaussian functions. The Gaussian width and the difference in binding energies of TABLE I. The ideality factor and the Schottky barrier height of both the Pt/GaN and the Pt/Al0.35Ga0.65N Schottky diodes. The size of the Schottky contact was 50⫻50 m2. The data in the table are the average value obtained from measurement of ten diodes. SBH 共eV兲 Pt/GaN Pt/Al0.35Ga0.65N Ideality factor, n (I – V) (C – V) 1.06⫾0.12 2.11⫾0.23 1.46⫾0.07 1.39⫾0.15 1.56⫾0.04 2.48⫾0.06 [This article is copyrighted as indicated in the article. Reuse of AIP content is subject to the terms at: http://scitation.aip.org/termsconditions. Downloaded to ] IP: 119.202.87.44 On: Fri, 22 May 2015 02:17:52 J. Appl. Phys., Vol. 94, No. 11, 1 December 2003 Kim, Jang, and Lee 7203 FIG. 3. Relative atomic ratio of 共a兲 N/关Ga⫹共Al兲兴 and 共b兲 O/关Ga⫹共Al兲兴 at the surface of Alx Ga1⫺x N with Al mole fraction as a function of detection angle. The surface normal was set as ⫽90°. FIG. 2. 共a兲 Ga 3d and N 1s and 共b兲 Al 2p and O 1s core-level spectra at the surface of Alx Ga1⫺x N (x⫽0, 0.12, 0.22, and 0.33兲, measured using SRPES. each bond were fixed with constant values.12 When the Ga 3d and the Al 2p spectra were deconvoluted into two components, Ga—N and Ga—O, Al—N and Al—O bonds, respectively, they fitted well with experimentally obtained spectra. The relative atomic concentrations of each element in Alx Ga1⫺x N were determined from the integrated intensities of each spectrum considering the atomic sensitivity factors of each element,12 as summarized in Table II. The intensity ratio of 关Ga—O兴/关Ga—N兴 was almost independent of Al mole fraction. On the other hand, the 关Al—O兴/关Al—N兴 bond and the intensity of O increased simultaneously with Al mole fraction. This provides evidence that oxygen atoms are easily incorporated with Al by occupying a substitutional nitrogen site. Furthermore, the incorporation of oxygen in Alx Ga1⫺x N is much more pronounced at a higher Al mole fraction. Angle-resolved scans of the SRPES were performed to obtain the depth information of chemical compositions near the Alx Ga1⫺x N surface. At a smaller detection angle 共兲, the intensity of photoelectrons emitting from the surface becomes dominant due to the inelastic mean-free path of photoelectrons. Figures 3共a兲 and 3共b兲 show the variation of N/关Ga⫹共Al兲兴 and O/关Ga⫹共Al兲兴 ratios on the Alx Ga1⫺x N surface with . The N/关Ga⫹共Al兲兴 ratio in the Alx Ga1⫺x N (x ⫽0.22 and 0.33兲 slightly increases with decreasing . This indicates that the surface of the Alx Ga1⫺x N (x⫽0.22 and 0.33兲 maintains a N-rich condition in comparison with the Alx Ga1⫺x N (x⫽0 and 0.12兲 surface due to the existence VGa and/or VAl near the surface. In the case of O/关Ga⫹共Al兲兴, the ratio increases with increasing the Al mole fraction, indicating a strong interaction of O atoms with Al ones. In addition, the increase in the ratio is much more pronounced as the detection angle decreases. This clearly shows that the concentration of oxygen is higher near the surface than in the bulk of Alx Ga1⫺x N. Figure 4 shows the valence-band spectra and the onset of secondary electrons. It was found that the energy difference between the Fermi level (E F ) and the valence-band maximum (E V ) gradually increased, that is, 2 eV for x⫽0.12 and 2.4 eV for x⫽0.22, and 2.8 eV for x⫽0.33. Considering the increase in the band gap (E g ) of the Alx Ga1⫺x N with x, the surface Fermi-level position below the conduction-band maximum 共CBM兲, E g ⫺(E F ⫺E V ), is almost same, 1.6⫾0.1 eV, independent of the Al mole fraction. This is in good agreement with the previously reported value of 1.65 eV.13 The onset of secondary electron shifts toward a lower kinetic TABLE II. The relative atomic concentrations 共%兲 of each element and bond in Alx Ga1⫺x N determined from the integrated intensities of each spectrum considering the atomic sensitivity factors of each element. The detection angle was 90°. Ga GaN Al0.12Ga0.88N Al0.22Ga0.78N Al0.33Ga0.67N Al Ga—N Ga—O Al—N Al—O N O 关Ga—O兴/ 关Ga—N兴 关Al—O兴/ 关Al—N兴 39.0 25.3 24.1 16.5 12.4 8.3 7.8 5.3 ¯ 13.1 10.8 12.8 ¯ 8.2 12.4 17.8 31.8 24.3 22.5 22.9 16.7 20.8 22.3 24.7 0.32 0.33 0.33 0.32 ¯ 0.62 1.15 1.39 [This article is copyrighted as indicated in the article. Reuse of AIP content is subject to the terms at: http://scitation.aip.org/termsconditions. Downloaded to ] IP: 119.202.87.44 On: Fri, 22 May 2015 02:17:52 7204 J. Appl. Phys., Vol. 94, No. 11, 1 December 2003 FIG. 4. Valence band and onset of secondary electron spectra at the surface of Alx Ga1⫺x N (x⫽0, 0.12, 0.22, and 0.33兲 measured using SRPES. energy as the Al mole fraction increased. This supports the hypothesis that the work function of the Alx Ga1⫺x N surface decreases mainly due to the decrease of the electron affinity of the Alx Ga1⫺x N. IV. DISCUSSION In GaN and AlN, the formation of point defect complexes between cation vacancies and substitutional O donors such as VGa –ON is energetically stable.9,14 The O donors and the acceptorlike cation vacancies simultaneously increased with the Al mole fraction in Alx Ga1⫺x N 关Figs. 3共a兲 and 3共b兲兴. However, the amount of cation vacancies is smaller than that of O donors, considering the changes in N/关Ga ⫹共Al兲兴 and O/关Ga⫹共Al兲兴 with in Figs. 3共a兲 and 3共b兲. The remaining O donors at the surface of Alx Ga1⫺x N could play a key role in doping the surface to a n-type condition. Moreover, the surface states composed of both the acceptorlike VGa共VAl兲–ON complex and the O donor could lead to the Fermi-level pinning at the fixed surface potential of ⬃1.6 eV below the CBM. Based on the experimental results, we propose a current transport mechanism in Pt/Alx Ga1⫺x N Schottky diodes with an Al mole fraction, which is explained with the energy band diagrams in Fig. 5. The current transport in Pt/GaN is well described by the thermionic emission of electrons over the Schottky barrier, as shown in Fig. 5共a兲, considering the near Kim, Jang, and Lee unity ideality factor and the coincidence of the SBHs obtained from the I – V and the C – V measurements. In Alx Ga1⫺x N, the surface Fermi-level position was independent of the Al mole fraction 共Fig. 4兲. The oxygen donors uncompensated with cation vacancies increased with increasing the Al mole fraction 关Fig. 3共b兲兴. This was more pronounced near the surface of Alx Ga1⫺x N. This suggests that a thin layer of the Alx Ga1⫺x N near the surface became a heavily doped n-type layer. Because the width of the Schottky barrier is inversely propotional to the root of doping concentration, the thickness of the barrier containing oxygen donors became thin enough to allow electrons to tunnel through the thin surface layer at a high Al mole fraction, as shown in Fig. 5共b兲. This leads to the nonideal Schottky behavior, the reduction in the SBH and the increase in ideality factor, of the Pt/Al0.35Ga0.65N Schottky diode. V. CONCLUSION In conclusion, the current transport in the Pt/GaN diode is well described by the thermionic emission. The ideality factor of the Pt/GaN diode is near unity, 1.06⫾0.12 eV and the Schottky barrier heights obtained from the I – V and the C – V measurements are nearly consistent. In the meanwhile, the ideality factor of the Pt/Al0.35Ga0.65N diode is 2.11⫾0.23 eV, largely deviated from unity. Furthermore, the b value obtained from the I – V 共1.39⫾0.15 eV兲 is much smaller than that from the C – V measurement 共2.48⫾0.06 eV兲. The position of the surface Fermi level was ⬃1.6 eV below the CBM independent of the Al mole fraction, but oxygen content at the surface of Alx Ga1⫺x N increased with increasing the Al mole fraction. The oxygen donor impurities were predominantly incorporated at the surface of Alx Ga1⫺x N, causing the surface to be heavily doped n type. Therefore, the thickness of the Schottky barrier became thin enough to allow electrons to tunnel through at a high Al mole fraction. This leads to the nonideal Schottky behavior of the Pt/Al0.35Ga0.65N Schottky diode. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The author would like to thank Dr. I. H. Lee, Dr. J. S. Kwak, and Dr. O. H. Nam from Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology 共SAIT兲 for material growth. This work was performed through the project for ‘‘National Research Laboratory’’ sponsored by the Korea Institute of Science and Technology Evaluation and Planning 共KISTEP兲. 1 V. Kumar, W. Lu, F. A. Khan, R. Schwindt, A. Kuliev, G. Simin, J. Yang, M. Asif Khan, and I. 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