Effects of thermal annealing on the electrical and structural properties of Pt/Mo Schottky contacts on n-type GaN

Thermal annealing temperature effects on the electrical and structural properties of platinum/molybdenum (Pt/Mo) Schottky contacts on n-type GaN have been investigated by current-voltage (I-V), capacitance-voltage (C-V), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) techniques. As-deposited Pt/Mo/n-GaN Schottky diode exhibits barrier height of 0.75 eV (I-V) and 0.82 eV (C-V). Upon annealing at 400 and 500 A degrees C, the barrier height slightly increased to 0.77 eV (I-V) and 0.92 eV (C-V) and 0.82 eV (I-V) and 0.97 eV (C-V), respectively. A maximum barrier height of 0.83 eV (I-V) and 0.99 eV (C-V) is obtained on the Pt/Mo contacts annealed at 600 A degrees C. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy results shows that the Ga 2p core-level shift towards the low-energy side for the contact annealed at 600 A degrees C as compared to the as-deposited one. Based on the results of XPS and XRD studies, the formation of gallide phases at Pt/Mo/n-GaN interface could be the reason for the increase of Schottky barrier heights upon annealing at elevated temperatures. The atomic force microscopy (AFM) results showed that the Pt/Mo contact does not seriously suffer from thermal degradation during annealing even at 600 A degrees C (RMS roughness of 5.41 nm). These results make Pt/Mo Schottky contacts attractive for high temperature device applications

Medium Energy Carbon and Nitrogen Ion Beam Induced Modifications in Charge Transport, Structural and Optical Properties of Ni/Pd/n-GaN Schottky Barrier Diodes

The irradiation effects of carbon and nitrogen medium energy ions (MEI) on charge transport, structural and optical properties of Ni/Pd/n-GaN Schottky barrier diodes are reported. The devices are exposed to 600 keV C2+ and 650 keV N2+ ions in the fluence range of 1 x 10(13) to 1 x 10(15) ions cm(-2). The SRIM/TRIM simulations provide quantitative estimations of damage created along the trajectories of ion beams in the device profile. The electrical parameters like Schottky barrier height, series resistance of the Ni/Pd/n-GaN Schottky barrier diodes decreases for a fluence of 1 x 10(13) ions cm(-2) and thereafter increases with an increase in fluence of 600 keV C2+ and 650 keV N2+ ions. The charge transport mechanism is influenced by various current transport mechanisms along with thermionic emission. Photoluminescence studies have demonstrated the presence of yellow luminescence in the pristine samples. It disappears at higher fluences due to the possible occupancy of Ga vacancies. The presence of the green luminescence band may be attributed to the dislocation caused by the combination of gallium vacancy clusters and impurities due to MEI irradiation. Furthermore, X-ray diffraction studies reveal that there is a decrease in the intensity and shift in the diffraction peaks towards the lower side of two thetas. The reductions in the intensity of C2+ ion irradiation is more when compared to N2+ ion irradiation, which may be attributed to change in the mean atomic scattering factor on a given site for light C2+ ion as compared to N2+ ion