Nanoscale conductive pattern of the homoepitaxial AlGaN/GaN transistor

The gallium nitride (GaN)-based buffer/barrier mode of growth and morphology, the transistor electrical response (25–310 °C) and the nanoscale pattern of a homoepitaxial AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) have been investigated at the micro and nanoscale. The low channel sheet resistance and the enhanced heat dissipation allow a highly conductive HEMT transistor ( I ds > 1 A mm −1 ) to be defined (0.5 A mm −1 at 300 °C). The vertical breakdown voltage has been determined to be ∼850 V with the vertical drain-bulk (or gate-bulk) current following the hopping mechanism, with an activation energy of 350 meV. The conductive atomic force microscopy nanoscale current pattern does not unequivocally follow the molecular beam epitaxy AlGaN/GaN morphology but it suggests that the FS-GaN substrate presents a series of preferential conductive spots (conductive patches). Both the estimated patches density and the apparent random distribution appear to correlate with the edge-pit dislocations observed via cathodoluminescence. The sub-surface edge-pit dislocations originating in the FS-GaN substrate result in barrier height inhomogeneity within the HEMT Schottky gate producing a subthreshold current

10 μ m-thick four-quadrant transmissive silicon photodiodes for beam position monitor application: Electrical characterization and gamma irradiation effects

Silicon photodiodes are very useful devices as X-ray beam monitors in synchrotron radiation beamlines. Owing to Si absorption, devices thinner than 10 μ m are needed to achieve transmission over 90% for energies above 10 keV . In this work, new segmented four-quadrant diodes for beam alignment purposes are fabricated on both ultrathin (10 μ m-thick) and bulk silicon substrates. Four-quadrant diodes implementing different design parameters as well as auxiliary test structures (single diodes and MOS capacitors) are studied. An extensive electrical characterization, including current-voltage (I-V) and capacitance-voltage (C-V) techniques, is carried out on non-irradiated and gamma-irradiated devices up to 100 Mrad doses. Special attention is devoted to the study of radiation-induced charge build-up in diode interquadrant isolation dielectric, as well as its impact on device interquadrant resistance. Finally, the devices have been characterized with an 8 keV laboratory X-ray source at 108 ph/s and in BL13-XALOC ALBA Synchroton beamline with 1011 ph/s and energies from 6 to 16 keV . Sensitivity, spatial resolution and uniformity of the devices have been evaluated.Peer reviewe

Four-quadrant silicon and silicon carbide photodiodes for beam position monitor applications: Electrical characterization and electron irradiation effects

Silicon photodiodes are very useful devices as X-ray beam monitors in synchrotron radiation beamlines, as well as other astronomy and space applications. Owing to their lower susceptibility to variable temperature and illumination conditions, there is also special interest in silicon carbide devices for some of these applications. Moreover, radiation hardness of the involved technologies is a major concern for high-energy physics and space applications. This work presents four-quadrant photodiodes produced on ultrathin (10 μm) and bulk Si, as well as on SiC epilayer substrates. An extensive electrical characterization has been carried out by using current-voltage (I-V) and capacitance-voltage (C-V) techniques. The impact of different temperature (from -50C to 175C) and visible light conditions on the electrical characteristics of the devices has been evaluated. Radiation effects caused by 2 MeV electron irradiation up to 1×1014, 1×1015 and 1×1016 e/cm2 fluences have been studied. Special attention has been devoted to the study of charge build-up in diode interquadrant isolation, as well as its impact on interquadrant resistance. The study of these electrical properties and its radiation-induced degradation should be taken into account for device applications.Peer reviewe

Sediment undulations on the Llobregat prodelta: Signs of early slope instability or sedimentary bedforms?

A field of sediment undulations has been mapped by means of high resolution multibeam bathymetry and seismic reflection profiles in the Llobregat River prodelta, off the city of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Similar features had previously been recognized in other prodelta environments and interpreted either as downslope sediment deformation or sedimentary structures induced by bottom currents or hyperpycnal flows. Since the study area is undergoing significant offshore development, proper interpretation of such sediment undulations is needed for a correct risk assessment. The occurrence of the sediment undulations is restricted to the prodelta front on slope gradients between 3 and 0.2º. The undulations have developed at the edge and atop an area of gas bearing sediments within the Late-Holocene high-stand mud wedge. An evaluation is made of the characteristics of the sediment undulations in order to determine the most likely process for the origin of these structures. Amongst these characteristics are the continuity of the reflections and lack of diffractions in between different undulations, their size distribution (large to small) both from shallow to deep and with depth in section, the asymmetry (decreasing from proximal to distal), the crest to trough vertical distance on the landward side of the undulations (up to 0.5 m), and the lack of features that could indicate a progressive movement such as growth structures and drag folds. These characteristics indicate that the sediment undulations on the Llobregat River prodelta do not result from sediment deformation, but rather from the interaction of bottom currents generated by hyperpycnal flows from the Llobregat River with regional sea water circulation. Their identification as sediment waves implies that such features do not pose a major hazard for urther offshore development

Modeling the effect of thin gate insulators (SiO2, SiN, Al2O3 and HfO2) on AlGaN/GaN HEMT forward characteristics grown on Si, sapphire and SiC

GaN-based high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) with a Schottky metal gate have been demonstrated to be an excellent candidate for high frequency, high temperature and high power applications. Nevertheless, their typical (and virtually inevitable) high gate leakage current, severely limits gate voltage swing, output power and breakdown voltage. GaN metal–insulator –semiconductor HEMTs or MIS-HEMTs (formed by introducing a thin dielectric film between the gate metal and semiconductor) is one of the effective solutions that reduce gate leakage and improve device performance. In this work, we evaluate the effect that the introduction of this gate insulator has on the on-state of the HEMT. For this reason, we develop a complete set of compact closed-form expressions for the evaluation of on-resistance, drain and saturation current and transconductance for a MIS-HEMT. This physical-based model describes the mobility in a 2D electron gas channel by means of optical phonon scattering and is explored with insulators based on SiO2, SiNx, Al2O3, and HfO2

Temperature behavior and modeling of ohmic contacts to Si+ implanted n-type GaN

The behavior of an ohmic contact to an implanted Si GaN n-well in the temperature range of 25-300 degrees C has been investigated. This is the sort of contact one would expect in many GaN based devices such as (source/drain) in a metal-oxide-semiconductor transistor. A low resistivity ohmic contact was achieved using the metal combination of Ti (350 angstrom)/Al (1150 angstrom) on a protected (SiO(2) cap) and unprotected samples during the post implantation annealing. Sheet resistance of the implanted layer and metal-semiconductor contact resistance to N(+) GaN have been extracted at different temperatures. Both, the experimental sheet resistance and the contact resistance decrease with the temperature and their characteristics are fitted by means of physical based models

Gate traps inducing band-bending fluctuations on AlGaN/GaN heterojunction transistors

Here, using a frequency dependent conductance analysis, we map the parallel conductance vs gate bias/frequency and further analyze the slow and fast traps as a function of the Fermi level for different gate architectures of analogous AlGaN/GaN heterojunction transistors with Schottky and SiNx metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) gate. The density of interface traps (Dit)-MIS reducing Dit-, the characteristic trap constant and the variance of the band-bending (σs) have been investigated for slow and fast traps. Additional gate stress appears to have a notable effect on the MIS fast trap profile with σs increasing up to 2.5 kT/q

Modelling the metal–semiconductor band structure in implanted ohmic contacts to GaN and SiC

Here we present a method to model the metal–semiconductor (M–S) band structure to an implanted ohmic contact to a wide band gap semiconductor (WBG) such as GaN and SiC. The performance and understanding of the M–S contact to a WBG semiconductor is of great importance as it influences the overall performance of a semiconductor device. In this work we explore in a numerical fashion the ohmic contact properties to a WBG semiconductor taking into account the partial ionization of impurities and analysing its dependence on the temperature, the barrier height, the impurity level band energy and carrier concentration. The effect of the M–S Schottky barrier lowering and the Schottky barrier inhomogeneities are discussed. The model is applied to a fabricated ohmic contact to GaN where the M–S band structure can be completely determined

Ohmic contact resistance to GaN devices dependence with on temperature for GaN devices

The temperature dependence of Ohmic contacts to GaN devices is investigated in this paper via by measuring TLM contact resistances TLM vs Tas a function of temperature. measurements. In particular, the two types of Ohmic contacts are considered: (1) Contacts to highly doped implanted regions (such as the MOSFET drain/source contacts or the back contact of Schottky diodes) and (2) contacts to the 2 dimensional electron gas (2DEG) of an AlGaN/GaN heterojunction

Temperature dependence of Al/Ti-based Ohmic contact to GaN devices : HEMT and MOSFET

In this paper two types of Al/Ti-based Ohmic contacts to Gallium Nitride (GaN) based devices are presented; Implanted N(+) GaN (like the ones found in the Source/Drain of GaN Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistors-MOSFET) and heterojunction (HJ) AlGaN/GaN contacts (Source/Drain of High Electron Mobility Transistors-HEMT). Sheet resistance (R(sh)) and contact resistance (R(c)) have been investigated in the temperature (T) range of 25-250 degrees C. It was found that the R(sh) (850/700 Omega square) (25/250 degrees C) and R(c) (2.2/0.7 Omega mm) decrease with T for Implanted N(+) GaN contact and R(sh) (400/850 Omega square) and R(c) (0.2/0.4 Omega mm) (weakly for R(c)) increase with T for HJ AlGaN/GaN contact. Numerical computation based models are used to determine the theoretical R(sh) and R(c) behavior with T and to fit the experimental values. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved