Temperature Behavior of Pt/Au Ohmic Contacts to p-GaN

1997 ◽  
Vol 468 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. J. King ◽  
L. Zhang ◽  
J. C. Ramer ◽  
S. D. Hersee ◽  
L. F. Lester

ABSTRACTOhmic contacts to Mg-doped p-GaN grown by MOCVD [1] are studied using a circular transmission line model (TLM) to avoid the need for isolation. For samples which use a p-dopant activation anneal before metallization, no appreciable difference in the specific contact resistance, rc, as a function of different capping options is observed. However, a lower rc is obtained when no pre-metallization anneal is employed, and the post-metallization anneal simultaneously activates the p-dopant and anneals the contact. This trend is shown for Pt/Au, Pt, Pd/Pt/Au, and Ni/Au contacts to p-GaN. The rc 's for these metal contacts are in the range of 1.4–7.6 × 10-3 ohm-cm2 at room temperature at a bias of 10mA. No particular metallization formula clearly yields a consistently superior contact. Instead, the temperature of the contact has the strongest influence.Detailed studies of the electrical properties of the Pt/Au contacts reveal that the I-V linearity improves significantly with increasing temperature. At room temperature, a slightly rectified I-V characteristic curve is obtained, while at 200°C and above, the I-V curve is linear. For all the p-GaN samples, it is also found that the sheet resistance decreases by an order of magnitude with increasing temperature from 25°C to 350°C. The specific contact resistance is also found to decrease by nearly an order of magnitude for a temperature increase of the same range. A minimum rc of 4.2 × 10-4 ohm-cm2 was obtained at a temperature of 350°C for a Pt/Au contact. This result is the lowest reported rc for ohmic contacts to p-GaN.

2018 ◽  
Vol 924 ◽  
pp. 385-388 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberta Nipoti ◽  
Maurizio Puzzanghera ◽  
Maria Concetta Canino ◽  
Giovanna Sozzi ◽  
Paolo Fedeli

This study shows that a thin Ni film on Al/Ti/4H-SiC metal pads allows to preserve the pad form factor during a 1000 °C/2 min treatment, provided that the Al and Ti film thicknesses are sufficiently thin. Moreover, by reducing the Al to Ti thickness ratio, droplet formation in the contact area is avoided and a mirror-like appearance is obtained. This optimal contact morphology corresponds to a specific contact resistance of few 10-4Ωcm2at room temperature on p-type 4H-SiC with resistivity in the range 0.1 – 1 Ωcm.


2000 ◽  
Vol 640 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xaiobin Wang ◽  
Stanislav Soloviev ◽  
Ying Gao ◽  
G. Straty ◽  
Tangali Sudarshan ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTOhmic contacts to p-type SiC were fabricated by depositing Al/Ni and Al/Ti followed by high temperature annealing. A p-type layer was fabricated by Al or B diffusion from vapor phase into both p-type and n-type substrates. The thickness of the diffused layer was about 0.1–0.2 μm with surface carrier concentration of about 1.0×1019cm−3. Metal contacts to a p-type substrate with a background doping concentration of 1.2×1018cm−3, without a diffusion layer, were also formed. The values of specific contact resistance obtained by Circular Transmission Line Method (CTLM) and Transfer Length Method (TLM) for the n-type substrate, and by Cox & Strack method for p-type substrate, respectively, varied from 1.3×10−4Ωcm2 to 8.8×10−3 Ωcm2. The results indicate that the specific contact resistance could be significantly reduced by creating a highly doped diffused surface layer.


2006 ◽  
Vol 911 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kirk Hofeling ◽  
Loren Rieth ◽  
Florian Solzbacher

AbstractTiW(40 nm)/TiWN(80 nm)/Pt(500nm) was investigated as a new high-temperature compatible contact stack to 3C-SiC for harsh environment applications. Performance of TiW/TiWN/Pt contacts deposited on unintentionally doped (8.85×1018 cm-3) 3C-SiC grown by LPCVD to a thickness of ~1μm on (100) Si are reported. The linear transmission line method was used to determine specific contact resistance (ρc) at room temperature and for long-term tests at 300 °C. As deposited contacts were Ohmic with a ρc range of 1×10-4 to 1×10-3 cm2. These contacts were annealed for five minutes in forming gas (8% H2 92% Ar), at temperatures from 450 to 950 °C and all retained Ohmic character. Annealing samples at 450, 550 and 950 °C decreased ρc while anneling between 650 and 850 °C generally increased ρc.Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES) analysis was performed on a sample annealed at 750 °C. The as-received surface was composed of Si and O; after a brief sputter etch a characteristic Pt peak became visible and the O peak decreased substantially. Depth profiles detected Si throughout the Pt capping layer but not in the TiW layers. We suspect that Si diffuses from the SiC substrate into the Pt capping layer and surface Si also reacts with O2 to from an oxide. These reactions, in combination with incomplete SiC/TiW interface reactions, are suspected to cause the increase of ρc for samples annealed between 650 and 850 °C. Annealing at 950 °C gave the lowest contact resistance of 2.3×10-5. Long-term testing at 300 °C for 190 hours, in atmosphere, was performed on contacts annealed at 450 °C. When heated, the contacts initial ρc of 2.1×10-4 cm2 increased to ~4×10-3 cm2 which remained stable for the test duration. After long-term testing the sample ρc measured at room temperature decreased to 9.8×10-5 cm2.


2000 ◽  
Vol 640 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Y. Lin ◽  
S. E. Mohney ◽  
M. Smalley ◽  
J. Crofton ◽  
J. R. Williams ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTThe influence of composition on Al-Ti ohmic contacts to 4H p-SiC was studied. When NA was 7 x 1018 cm−3, contacts with 70 wt.% or more Al became ohmic when annealed at 1000°C for 2 min, whereas when there was 60 wt.% or less Al, the contacts did not become ohmic even when annealed under more severe conditions (longer times and/or higher temperatures). Spiking of the contact metallization always accompanied ohmic behavior and could be correlated with Al-Ti compositions that contain both an Al-rich liquid and solid TiAl3 at 1000°C prior to reaction with SiC or evaporative loss of Al. For the 70 wt.× contacts, a specific contact resistance of 1.5 × 10−4 Ω cm2 was measured along with spiking of the metallization into the SiC with a room-mean-square interfacial roughness of 150 Å and a maximum spiking depth of 1200 Å. Although still a concern, this spiking was less severe than observed for the 90 wt.× composition. A conductive CrB2 cap layer was next demonstrated to retard evaporation of Al during annealing of the Al-Ti contacts with 70 wt.× Al. The cap allowed use of thinner contact layers, reducing the depth of spiking and improving the surface morphology and edge definition of the ohmic contacts, with a one order of magnitude penalty in the specific contact resistance.


2011 ◽  
Vol 1335 ◽  
Author(s):  
N.F. Mohd Nasir ◽  
A.S. Holland ◽  
G.K. Reeves ◽  
P.W. Leech ◽  
A. Collins ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTMembranes of epitaxial SiC have been used as a means of eliminating the leakage current into the Si substrate during circular transmission line model (CTLM) measurements. In the n+-3C-SiC/Si wafers, the Si substrate was etched in a patterned window with dimensions up to 10 mm × 15 mm2. An array of CTLM metal contacts was then deposited onto the upper surface of the n+-SiC membrane. The CTLM contacts on the membrane have shown an ohmic current/voltage response while electrodes located on the adjacent substrate were non-ohmic. Values of ρc were measured directly on the membranes. These results have shown a significant increase in the current flow below the metal contacts due to the presence of the Si substrate.


2006 ◽  
Vol 527-529 ◽  
pp. 1587-1590 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Doneddu ◽  
Owen J. Guy ◽  
R.M. Baylis ◽  
L. Chen ◽  
P.R. Dunstan ◽  
...  

The formation of metal/diamond Ohmic contacts is essential to most electronic devices. In order to form a good Ohmic contact to diamond a carbide-forming metal such as Ti or Cr is necessary. In this study, Cr/Au contacts to heavily boron-doped single crystal CVD diamond were fabricated by subsequent deposition of Cr and Au. The surface morphology and specific contact resistance of diamond/Cr/Au contacts has been investigated. The reaction between the Cr metal and the diamond during annealing gives an improved specific contact resistance. However, this reaction also causes a significant change in the surface morphology. The surface morphology of singlecrystal diamond is shown to greatly influence the properties of metal contacts to diamond. Shearforce mode atomic force microscopy (AFM) investigations have been used to examine the diamond surface before metallization, and after removing the metal contact. The initial diamond surface was predominantly smooth, apart from some scratches from the polishing process. Surface RMS roughness values of around 0.4nm were found. Correlation between surface morphology and contact resistance has been found, with rougher surfaces exhibiting a barrier to conduction. An understanding of the contact formation process is an essential step in achieving high quality Ohmic contacts which are vital in the fabrication of high quality diamond devices.


2015 ◽  
Vol 821-823 ◽  
pp. 933-936 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Hertel ◽  
Andreas Finkler ◽  
Michael Krieger ◽  
Heiko B. Weber

Epitaxial graphene on silicon carbide (SiC) can easily be grown by thermal decomposition. A well-defined epitaxial interface between graphene and substrate is formed, especially when the silicon face of hexagonal polytypes is employed. It is found that as-grown monolayer graphene with interfacial buffer layer provides perfectly ohmic contacts to n-type SiC – even to low-doped epitaxial layers without contact implantation. Contact resistances to highly doped samples are competitive with conventional annealed nickel (Ni) contacts; a direct comparison of Ni and graphene contacts on 4H-SiC resulted in an one order of magnitude reduction of the contact resistance in the case of graphene contacts. On highly doped 6H-SiC, a specific contact resistance as low asρC= 5.9·10-6Ωcm2was found. This further improvement compared to 4H-SiC is assigned to better matching of work functions at the Schottky-like interface.


2014 ◽  
Vol 806 ◽  
pp. 57-60
Author(s):  
Nicolas Thierry-Jebali ◽  
Arthur Vo-Ha ◽  
Davy Carole ◽  
Mihai Lazar ◽  
Gabriel Ferro ◽  
...  

This work reports on the improvement of ohmic contacts made on heavily p-type doped 4H-SiC epitaxial layer selectively grown by Vapor-Liquid-Solid (VLS) transport. Even before any annealing process, the contact is ohmic. This behavior can be explained by the high doping level of the VLS layer (Al concentration > 1020 cm-3) as characterized by SIMS profiling. Upon variation of annealing temperatures, a minimum value of the Specific Contact Resistance (SCR) down to 1.3x10-6 Ω.cm2 has been obtained for both 500 °C and 800 °C annealing temperature. However, a large variation of the SCR was observed for a same process condition. This variation is mainly attributed to a variation of the Schottky Barrier Height.


2007 ◽  
Vol 556-557 ◽  
pp. 1027-1030 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ferdinando Iucolano ◽  
Fabrizio Roccaforte ◽  
Filippo Giannazzo ◽  
A. Alberti ◽  
Vito Raineri

In this work, the structural and electrical properties of Ti/Al/Ni/Au contacts on n-type Gallium Nitride were studied. An ohmic behaviour was observed after annealing above 700°C. The structural analysis showed the formation of an interfacial TiN layer and different phases in the reacted layer (AlNi, AlAu4, Al2Au) upon annealing. The temperature dependence of the specific contact resistance demonstrated that the current transport occurs through thermoionic field emission in the contacts annealed at 600°C, and field emission after annealing at higher temperatures. By fitting the data with theoretical models, a reduction of the Schottky barrier from 1.21eV after annealing at 600°C to 0.81eV at 800°C was demonstrated, together with a strong increase of the carrier concentration at the interface. The reduction of the contact resistance upon annealing was discussed by correlating the structural and electrical characteristics of the contacts.


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