Interfacial Structure of In/Pt/GaAs Heterojunction Ohmic Contacts.

1986 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dean C. Marvin ◽  
Neil A. Ives ◽  
Martin S. Leung

2012 ◽  
Vol 711 ◽  
pp. 184-187 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexia Drevin-Bazin ◽  
Jean Francois Barbot ◽  
Thierry Cabioch ◽  
Marie France Beaufort

Metal/semiconductor contacts have a great impact on device performances. Contact properties to wide band gap semiconductors, in particular, are more difficult to control due to the large potential barrier which arises when the metal is deposited on the semiconductor’s surface. Moreover, intrinsic interface states also lead to deviation of the Schottky-Mott limit and the barrier height is no more dependent of the work function of the metal. The contact property has also become very important with the race for miniaturisation toward the nanoscale. Contacts must also be adherent, able to resist to the temperatures for which SiC based-devices are intended, and also they should be compatible with conventional device processing techniques (die attachment). Ohmic contacts to SiC have thus been investigated for decades. The difficulties of controlling the interface properties between the metal and SiC to obtain low resistive ohmic contact have not been overcome yet; the specific contact resistance being proportional to the exponential of the barrier height for a given doping concentration. For example, nickel has been studied for the ohmic contacts on n and p-type, however the presence of voids at the interface has been reported leading to the degradation of the contact properties [1]. More recently low ohmic contact resistance has been reported of Au/Ti/Al/n-type-4H-SiC contact [2]. The formation of TiSi, TiSi2and Ti3SiC2has been reported according to x-ray diffraction experiments after annealing. The formation of Ti3SiC2(or MAX phase) has also been reported in TiAl-based contacts to both n-and p-type [3-6]. This ternary carbide layer is supposed to reduce the barrier height at the contact and thus leads to low contact resistances. The addition of Ge also leads to the formation of Ti3SiC2at lower temperature of annealing [7]. However, other compounds are frequently observed at the interface showing that the control of the interfacial structure must be optimized. The objective of our work is to obtain uniform epitaxial Ti3SiC2thin film on n-type 4H-SiC to form ohmic contact with low resistance by studying the influence of different parameters such as the role of Aluminium on the formation mechanisms, the polarity and doping dependence. The temperature and the annealing time are also parameters to be optimized for the improvement of the ohmic contact.



1985 ◽  
Vol 54 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. C. Marvin ◽  
N. A. Ives ◽  
M. S. Leung

ABSTRACTGraded heterojunction InGaAs ohmic contacts to n-GaAs have been prepared which show improved electrical and morphological properties compared with other diffused contacts. The improvements result primarily from the use of a thin 400 A Pt layer between the 4000 Â In layer and the substrate to control the reaction of the In and the GaAs. A study of chemically etched samples using energy dispersive x-ray (EDX) analysis has revealed the formation of a smooth In Ga, As heterojunction interface. Evidence is also presented that the heterojunction regions are epitaxial. A smooth, uniform interface of this type is not formed in other diffused contact systems, such as In/GaAs and Ni/Au-Ge/GaAs.



2010 ◽  
Vol 645-648 ◽  
pp. 729-732 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bang Hung Tsao ◽  
Jacob W. Lawson ◽  
James D. Scofield ◽  
Javier Francisco Baca

Improved AlNi-based ohmic contacts to p-type 4H-SiC have been achieved using low energy ion (Al+)implantation, the addition of a thin Ti layer, and a novel two-step implant activation anneal process. AlNi/Au contacts with and without Ti were studied, which resulted in contact resistivities around 1.8x10-4 -cm2 and 2.0x10-3 -cm2 respectively. Even though these values were higher than those of the Ti/AlNi/W system, which was the focus of previous studies, the reduced anneal temperature (650 to 700°C) implies that Ti/AlNi/Au is a promising composite configuration. Cross-sectional TEM and EDX were used to investigate the interfacial structure of the contacts. One possible mechanism for the improved ohmic contact behavior is that the addition of Au and Ti resulted in a reduction barrier height.



Author(s):  
A.K. Rai ◽  
A.K. Petford-Long ◽  
A. Ezis ◽  
D.W. Langer

Considerable amount of work has been done in studying the relationship between the contact resistance and the microstructure of the Au-Ge-Ni based ohmic contacts to n-GaAs. It has been found that the lower contact resistivity is due to the presence of Ge rich and Au free regions (good contact area) in contact with GaAs. Thus in order to obtain an ohmic contact with lower contact resistance one should obtain a uniformly alloyed region of good contact areas almost everywhere. This can possibly be accomplished by utilizing various alloying schemes. In this work microstructural characterization, employing TEM techniques, of the sequentially deposited Au-Ge-Ni based ohmic contact to the MODFET device is presented.The substrate used in the present work consists of 1 μm thick buffer layer of GaAs grown on a semi-insulating GaAs substrate followed by a 25 Å spacer layer of undoped AlGaAs.



Author(s):  
J.K. Weiss ◽  
M. Gajdardziska-Josifovska ◽  
M. R. McCartney ◽  
David J. Smith

Interfacial structure is a controlling parameter in the behavior of many materials. Electron microscopy methods are widely used for characterizing such features as interface abruptness and chemical segregation at interfaces. The problem for high resolution microscopy is to establish optimum imaging conditions for extracting this information. We have found that off-axis electron holography can provide useful information for the study of interfaces that is not easily obtained by other techniques.Electron holography permits the recovery of both the amplitude and the phase of the image wave. Recent studies have applied the information obtained from electron holograms to characterizing magnetic and electric fields in materials and also to atomic-scale resolution enhancement. The phase of an electron wave passing through a specimen is shifted by an amount which is proportional to the product of the specimen thickness and the projected electrostatic potential (ignoring magnetic fields and diffraction effects). If atomic-scale variations are ignored, the potential in the specimen is described by the mean inner potential, a bulk property sensitive to both composition and structure. For the study of interfaces, the specimen thickness is assumed to be approximately constant across the interface, so that the phase of the image wave will give a picture of mean inner potential across the interface.



Author(s):  
Jun Liu ◽  
Katie E. Gunnison ◽  
Mehmet Sarikaya ◽  
Ilhan A. Aksay

The interfacial structure between the organic and inorganic phases in biological hard tissues plays an important role in controlling the growth and the mechanical properties of these materials. The objective of this work was to investigate these interfaces in nacre by transmission electron microscopy. The nacreous section of several different seashells -- abalone, pearl oyster, and nautilus -- were studied. Nacre is a laminated composite material consisting of CaCO3 platelets (constituting > 90 vol.% of the overall composite) separated by a thin organic matrix. Nacre is of interest to biomimetics because of its highly ordered structure and a good combination of mechanical properties. In this study, electron transparent thin sections were prepared by a low-temperature ion-beam milling procedure and by ultramicrotomy. To reveal structures in the organic layers as well as in the interfacial region, samples were further subjected to chemical fixation and labeling, or chemical etching. All experiments were performed with a Philips 430T TEM/STEM at 300 keV with a liquid Nitrogen sample holder.



Author(s):  
Andreas M. Borchert

In Al/Al2O3 MMC's the metal/ceramic interfacial structure is of great concern because aluminum does not wet (i.e. bond) well to alumina. One proposed method to overcome this problem is to form a magnesium-rich spinel (MgAl2O4) as an additional phase between the aluminum matrix and the alumina particle. The spinel forms by diffusion of Mg from the matrix and improves the bonding. Typically the SEM would be the most suitable instrument to study the spinel, but this particular material combination (alumina/spinel) does not have sufficient secondary or backscattered electron contrast to allow for normal imaging. The purpose of this work was to develop a technique for examining the growth and morphology of this spinel at the Al/Al2O3 interface. Samples of an Al/Al2O3 MMC with a spinel at the particle interface were prepared according to standard metallographic procedures. Certain samples were sputter coated with a gold film of approximately 12 nm thickness; other samples were examined uncoated. Nonconductive, uncoated specimens charge under the incident electron beam if the accelerating voltage is below E1 or above E2 in Figure 1. In both of cases (below E1 and above E2) the number of electrons entering the sample is higher than the number of electrons leaving the sample. The resolving power of the SEM is usually degraded by this effect and therefore nonconductive specimens are coated with a layer of conductive material prior to observation. Figure 2 shows how this effect can create contrast between two materials due to its effect on the secondary electron detector bias voltage. Figure 3 shows that this contrast mechanism exists for the material combination alumina/spinel. The secondary electron image of a coated sample (3a) shows almost no contrast between alumina and spinel whereas the uncoated sample (3b) shows good contrast due to the different charging characteristics of the materials. The alumina charges stronger than the spinel and appears brighter in the image. The assumption that the effect is due to secondary electrons is supported by Figure 4. The micrograph in Figure 4a was obtained by backscattered electrons only and shows poor contrast whereas the micrograph in Figure 4b was obtained by secondary and backscattered electrons and shows good contrast. Figure 5 shows micrographs obtained at different operating voltages. The reduction in contrast at lower operating voltages is due to reduced charging.



Author(s):  
Margaret L. Sattler ◽  
Michael A. O'Keefe

Multilayered materials have been fabricated with such high perfection that individual layers having two atoms deep are possible. Characterization of the interfaces between these multilayers is achieved by high resolution electron microscopy and Figure 1a shows the cross-section of one type of multilayer. The production of such an image with atomically smooth interfaces depends upon certain factors which are not always reliable. For example, diffusion at the interface may produce complex interlayers which are important to the properties of the multilayers but which are difficult to observe. Similarly, anomalous conditions of imaging or of fabrication may occur which produce images having similar traits as the diffusion case above, e.g., imaging on a tilted/bent multilayer sample (Figure 1b) or deposition upon an unaligned substrate (Figure 1c). It is the purpose of this study to simulate the image of the perfect multilayer interface and to compare with simulated images having these anomalies.



Author(s):  
S. Yegnasubramanian ◽  
V.C. Kannan ◽  
R. Dutto ◽  
P.J. Sakach

Recent developments in the fabrication of high performance GaAs devices impose crucial requirements of low resistance ohmic contacts with excellent contact properties such as, thermal stability, contact resistivity, contact depth, Schottky barrier height etc. The nature of the interface plays an important role in the stability of the contacts due to problems associated with interdiffusion and compound formation at the interface during device fabrication. Contacts of pure metal thin films on GaAs are not desirable due to the presence of the native oxide and surface defects at the interface. Nickel has been used as a contact metal on GaAs and has been found to be reactive at low temperatures. Formation Of Ni2 GaAs at 200 - 350C is reported and is found to grow epitaxially on (001) and on (111) GaAs, but is shown to be unstable at 450C. This paper reports the investigations carried out to understand the microstructure, nature of the interface and composition of sputter deposited and annealed (at different temperatures) Ni-Sb ohmic contacts on GaAs by TEM. Attempts were made to correlate the electrical properties of the films such as the sheet resistance and contact resistance, with the microstructure. The observations are corroborated by Scanning Auger Microprobe (SAM) investigations.





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