Investigation of Cu-Ge/Gaas Metal-Semiconductor Interfaces for Low Resistance Ohmic Contacts

1996 ◽  
Vol 448 ◽  
Author(s):  
Serge Oktyabrsky ◽  
M.A. Borek ◽  
M.O. Aboelfotoh ◽  
J. Narayan

AbstractChemistry and interfacial reactions of the Cu-Ge alloyed ohmic contacts to n-GaAs with extremely low specific contact resistivity (6.5×10-7 Ω·cm2 for n~1017 cm-3) have been investigated by transmission electron microscopy, EDX and SIMS. Unique properties of the contact layers are related to the formation (at Ge concentration above 15 at.%) of a polycrystalline layer of ordered orthorhombic ε1-Cu3Ge phase. Formation of the ε1-phase is believed to be responsible for high thermal stability, interface sharpness and uniform chemical composition. The results suggest that the formation of the ζ- and ε1,-Cu3Ge phases creates a highly Ge-doped n+-GaAs interfacial layer which provides the low contact resistivity. Layers with Ge deficiency to form ζ-phase show nonuniform intermediate layer of hexagonal β-Cu3As phase which grows epitaxially on Ga{111} planes of GaAs. In this case, released Ga diffuses out and dissolves in the alloyed layer stabilizing the ζ-phase which is formed in the structures with average Ge concentration of as low as 5 at.%. These layers also exhibit ohmic behavior.

1997 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 2249-2254 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. L. Smith ◽  
R. F. Davis ◽  
M. J. Kim ◽  
R. W. Carpenter ◽  
Y. Huang

The work described in this paper is part of a systematic study of ohmic contact strategies for GaN-based semiconductors. Gold contacts exhibited ohmic behavior on p-GaN when annealed at high temperature. The specific contact resistivity (ρc) calculated from TLM measurements on Au/p-GaN contacts was 53 Ω · cm2 after annealing at 800 °C. Multilayer Au/Mg/Au/p-GaN contacts exhibited linear, ohmic current-voltage (I-V) behavior in the as-deposited condition with ρc = 214 Ω · cm2. The specific contact resistivity of the multilayer contact increased significantly after rapid thermal annealing (RTA) through 725 °C. Cross-sectional microstructural characterization of the Au/p-GaN contact system via high-resolution electron microscopy (HREM) revealed that interfacial secondary phase formation occurred during high-temperature treatments, which coincided with the improvement of contact performance. In the as-deposited multilayer Au/Mg/Au/p-GaN contact, the initial 32 nm Au layer was found to be continuous. However, Mg metal was found in direct contact with the GaN in many places in the sample after annealing at 725 °C for 15 s. The resultant increase in contact resistance is believed to be due to the barrier effect increased by the presence of the low work function Mg metal.


1997 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 2325-2331 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. O. Aboelfotoh ◽  
S. Oktyabrsky ◽  
J. Narayan ◽  
J. M. Woodall

It is shown that Cu–Ge alloys prepared by depositing sequentially Cu and Ge layers onto GaAs substrates at room temperature followed by annealing at 400 °C form a low-resistance ohmic contact to n-type GaAs over a wide range of Ge concentration that extends from 15 to 40 at. %. The contacts exhibit a specific contact resistivity of 7 × 10−7 Ω cm2 on n-type GaAs with doping concentrations of 1 × 1017 cm−3. The contact resistivity is unaffected by varying the Ge concentration in the range studied and is not influenced by the deposition sequence of the Cu and Ge layers. Cross-sectional high-resolution transmission electron microscopy results show that the addition of Ge to Cu in this concentration range causes Cu to react only with Ge forming the ξ and ε1–Cu3Ge phases which correlate with the low contact resistivity. The ξ and ε1–Cu3Ge phases have a planar and structurally abrupt interface with the GaAs substrate without any interfacial transition layer. It is suggested that Ge is incorporated into the GaAs as an n-type impurity creating a highly doped n+-GaAs surface layer which is responsible for the ohmic behavior. n-channel GaAs metal-semiconductor field-effect transistors using ohmic contacts formed with the ξ and ε1–Cu3Ge phases demonstrate a higher transconductance compared to devices with AuGeNi contacts.


1991 ◽  
Vol 240 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernard M. Henry ◽  
A. E. Staton-Bevan ◽  
V. K. M. Sharma ◽  
M. A. Crouch ◽  
S. S. Gill

ABSTRACTAu/Pd/Ti and Au/Ti/Pd ohmic structures to thin p+-GaAs layers have been investigated for use as contacts to the base region of HJBTs. The Au/Pd/Ti contact system yielded specific contact resistivities at or above 2.8 × 10−5Ω:cm2. Heat treatments up to 8 minutes at 380°C caused only limited interaction between the metallization and the semiconductor. The metal penetrated to a maximum depth of ≃2nm. Specific contact resistivity values less than 10−5Ωcm2 were achieved using the Au/Ti/Pd (400/75/75nm) scheme. The nonalloyed Au/Ti/Pd contact showed the best combination of electrical and structural properties with a contact resistivity value of 9 × 10≃6Ωcm2 and Pd penetration of the GaAs epilayer to a depth of cs30nm.


2014 ◽  
Vol 35 (11) ◽  
pp. 1076-1078 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gwang-Sik Kim ◽  
Jeong-Kyu Kim ◽  
Seung-Hwan Kim ◽  
Jaesung Jo ◽  
Changhwan Shin ◽  
...  

1996 ◽  
Vol 449 ◽  
Author(s):  
Taek Kim ◽  
Myung C. Yoo ◽  
Taeil Kim

ABSTRACTWe report new Cr/Ni/Au and Ni/Cr/Au tri-layer metallization schemes for achieving low resistance ohmic contacts to moderately doped p- (∼1 × 1017/cm3), and n-GaN (∼1 × 1018/cm3) respectively. The metallizations were thermally evaporated on 2 μm-thick GaN layers grown on c-plane sapphire substrates by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). Comparisons with bi-layer metallizations such as Ni/Au and Cr/Au were also made. The Cr/Ni/Au contacts showed a low specific contact resistivity of 9.1 × 10−5 Ω⋅cm2 to n-GaN while that of Ni/Cr/Au to p-GaN was 8.3 × 10−2 Ω⋅cm2. The Ni/Cr/Au contacts also showed a low specific contact resistivity of 2.6 × 10−4 Ω⋅cm2 to n-GaN. The Ni/Cr/Au metallization could made reasonable ohmic contacts to p- and n-GaN simultaneously


2012 ◽  
Vol 100 (2) ◽  
pp. 022113 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Gallacher ◽  
P. Velha ◽  
D. J. Paul ◽  
I. MacLaren ◽  
M. Myronov ◽  
...  

2019 ◽  
Vol 963 ◽  
pp. 498-501
Author(s):  
Vuong Van Cuong ◽  
Seiji Ishikawa ◽  
Hiroshi Sezaki ◽  
Tomonori Maeda ◽  
Satoshi Yasuno ◽  
...  

Low specific contact resistivity and high-temperature reliability of the Ni (x)/Nb (100-x) (where x = 25, 50, 75 nm) ohmic contact to 4H-SiC were investigated. After the annealing process at 1000°C for 3 min in N2 ambient, the I-V curves indicated that all the contacts exhibited the ohmic behaviors. Based on the transfer length method, the specific contact resistivity of the contacts were extracted. High concentration of Ni was responsible for low specific contact resistance of the Ni (75)/Nb (25)/4H-SiC sample by the formation of Ni2Si compound after the fabrication process. However, this contact lost the ohmic behavior at low temperature of 150°C. Whereas, both Ni (50)/Nb (50)/4H-SiC and Ni (25)/Nb (75)/4H-SiC contacts remained the ohmic behavior for 100-hour aging at 400°C. Two-dimensional X-ray diffraction analyses showed that the presence of carbon agglomeration formed at the interface of the Ni (75)/Nb (25)/4H-SiC contact caused the degradation of this sample when being aged at high temperature environment. Meanwhile, higher concentration of Nb in the Ni (50)/Nb (50)/4H-SiC and Ni (25)/Nb (75)/4H-SiC samples improved the ability to collect the excess carbon atoms and thus enhanced the high temperature reliability of these contacts when operating in high temperature ambient. Considering both low specific contact resistivity and high temperature reliability, the Ni (50)/Nb (50)/4H-SiC contact can be a good candidate for harsh environment applications.


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