Recently, a method to extract temperature coefficients of impact ionization (II) from the linear and quadratic temperature coefficients of avalanche voltage was successfully applied for 4H-SiC devices. We apply the same method here to Silicon by first providing new data for linear and quadratic temperature coefficients of avalanche voltages and using the method to derive new temperature coefficients for four different models of II coefficients.
We report on vertical GaN junction barrier Schottky (JBS) diodes formed by Mg ion implantation and ultrahigh -pressure annealing (UHPA). The static ON-state characteristics of the diodes show an ideality factor of 1.05, a turn-on voltage of $\sim$ 0.7 V, a current rectification ratio of $\sim$ 10 $^{11}$ , and a low differential specific ON-resistance that scales with Schottky stripe width in fair agreement with the analytical model. The reverse leakage dependence on Schottky stripe width also agrees well with the analytical model. Implanted p-n junction diodes fabricated on the same wafer exhibit avalanche breakdown in reverse bias with a positive temperature coefficient, but the forward current is limited by a series barrier. Temperature-dependent current–voltage measurements of th p-n diodes verify the presence of the implanted p-n junction and reveal an additional 0.43-eV barrier, which we hypothesize arises from a p-Schottky contact and forms a second diode back-to-back with the p-n junction. This interpretation is supported by analysis of the capacitance–voltage characteristics of the implanted p-n diodes, epitaxial p-n diodes fabricated with intentional p-Schottky contacts, and comparison to TCAD simulations. Ultimately, the presence of the p-Schottky contact does not hinder JBS diode operation. The use of diffusion-aware designs and/or diffusion reduction represents future directions for Mg implantation technology in GaN power devices.
III–V/III-nitride p–n junctions were realized via crystal heterogeneous integration, and the resulting diodes were characterized to analyze electrical behavior and junction quality. p-type In0.53Ga0.47As, which is a well-established base layer in InP heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) technology, was used in combination with a homoepitaxial n-type GaN. The latter offers low dislocation density, coupled with high critical electric field and saturation velocity, which are attractive for use in future HBT collector layers. Transmission electron microscopy confirms an abrupt interface in the fabricated heterogeneous diodes. Electrical characterization of the diodes reveals a near-unity ideality factor (n ∼ 1.07) up to 145 °C, a high rectification ratio of ∼108, and a low interface trap density of 3.7 × 1012 cm−2.
The non-ideality in the subthreshold slope can be used to extract interface trap densities $D_{it}$ values. We have applied this method to monitor changes in $D_{it}$ under BTI stress and compare them to fixed oxide charges with regards to their impact on threshold voltage.
A comparison of p-type 4H-SiC with in situ doping of Al during epitaxial growth and with Al doping by implantation is studied here. Four-point van der Pauw samples are prepared, and resistivity and Hall measurements are carried out. SiC with in situ Al doping shows lower resistivity and a lower temperature coefficient than Al-implanted samples. Hall measurements reveal higher carrier concentrations and higher mobility for the in situ Al-doped sample at all temperatures. Extraction of the dopant ionization energy is obtained from the carrier concentration versus temperature and modeled using a two-level charge neutrality equation. The in situ-doped epitaxial sample shows only one ionization energy (230 meV), whereas the implanted sample shows an additional deep ionization energy level (350 meV). In the implanted sample, the activated carriers are distributed into two energy levels. The deep states with which some of the carriers are associated may be defect complexes and have a similar energy level to carbon-related DI defects, reported by others.
We investigate the electrical characteristics of Ni Schottky contacts on n-type GaN films that have undergone ultra-high-pressure annealing (UHPA), a key processing step for activating implanted Mg. Contacts deposited on these films exhibit low rectification and high leakage current compared to contacts on as-grown films. By employing an optimized surface treatment to restore the GaN surface following UHPA, we obtain Schottky contacts with a high rectification ratio of ∼10 9 , a near-unity ideality factor of 1.03, and a barrier height of ∼0.9 eV. These characteristics enable the development of GaN junction barrier Schottky diodes employing Mg implantation and UHPA.
We present a comprehensive performance analysis of vertical GaN JFETs via TCAD simulation with unique considerations for gates formed by Mg ion implantation into GaN. The dependence of the specific ON-resistance and pinch-off voltage on the gate and channel design parameters is first evaluated for a JFET with abrupt gate-channel junctions. Then, the influence of the gate acceptor concentration and distribution is studied to elucidate the consequences of incomplete acceptor activation or acceptor diffusion resulting from specialized post-implantation annealing techniques necessary for the activation of p-GaN. Examples of normally-ON and normally-OFF designs with 1.7 kV breakdown voltage for 1.2 kV applications are chosen for the activation and diffusion studies to demonstrate how the pinch-off and conduction characteristics are affected for different channel widths and doping concentrations conducive to each type of operation. Record low specific ON-resistance below 1 mΩ cm 2 is predicted for both, but gate acceptor diffusion increases the channel resistance, especially for JFETs designed to be normally-OFF.
We report a kV class, low ON-resistance, vertical GaN junction barrier Schottky (JBS) diode with selective-area p-regions formed via Mg implantation followed by high-temperature, ultra-high pressure (UHP) post-implantation activation anneal. The JBS has an ideality factor of 1.03, a turn-on voltage of 0.75 V, and a specific differential ON-resistance of 0.6 mΩ·cm 2 . The breakdown voltage of the JBS diode is 915 V, corresponding to a maximum electric field of 3.3 MV cm −1 . These results underline that high-performance GaN JBS can be realized using Mg implantation and high-temperature UHP post-activation anneal.
We present the first investigation of AlGaN/GaN HEMTs as optically-controlled microwave semiconductor devices for use in next-generation, high-power microwave photonics systems. Measurements show a modest change in S21 in the presence of UV illumination that induces internal photoconductive and photovoltaic effects. This contrasts with the significant shift in the measured gate capacitance, which can be used to tune future oscillators. This is investigated through the design of a 2.4 GHz Pierce oscillator with an optical tuning range of 3 MHz.