In order to maximize the performance of III-Nitride devices, it is necessary to develop thermally stable low resistance Ohmic contacts to III-N based electronic structures. This paper reports on the utility of InN as an aid to contact formation on widegap materials such as InAIN. For n-type materials, several questions relating to the growth conditions have been explored. Specifically, the impact of substrate type (GaAs vs. Sapphire), cap layer growth temperature and V/III ratio on contact resistance has been investigated. It was found that the use of sapphire substrates combined with high growth temperatures (575°C) and high V/III ratios produced acceptable contact resistances (∼10−6Ohm-cm2) to InAIN.

The interfaces between metals and semiconductors are very crucial to the performance and reliability of solid-state devices. At the moment information on the interfaces between metals and group III-nitride semiconductors are very rare. In this study, linear I-V characteristics of titanium and aluminum to A1xIn1-xN of three different composition (x=0.18, 0.50,0.85) were obtained exhibiting ohmic characteristics. Specific contact resistance of these metals to A1.18In.82N and Al.5In.5N was measured by transmission line measurement. Interdiffusion between the metals and the semiconductors, induced by annealing in N2 ambient, was determined using RBS and thermal stability was evaluated.

A variety of metal films deposited at room temperature have been found to grow epitaxially under conventional vacuum conditions on GaN grown by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy on sapphire substrates. The metal films have been characterized by X-ray diffraction using a thin-film Read camera and by MeV ion channeling measurements. Lattice mismatch between the epitaxial metals and the GaN basal planes ranges from ∼ 0.2% to ∼ 22%, and does not appear to be the determining factor in the epitaxy reported here. Surface structure of the epitaxial metal films has been studied by atomic force microscopy and found to differ considerably from that of nonepitaxial metal films grown on similar GaN substrates.

We have studied the fabrication of Pt/Au Schottky diodes on n-type GaN. We show that the electrical characteristics of the diodes are strongly dependent on the surface chemical treatment before the metal deposition. Lowest leakage currents were obtained by the use of a HC1 solution. We also show that annealing the diode at a moderate temperature (400°C) leads to reduced reverse currents. In order to explain these results, we measured the density of deep levels in the Schottky diode depletion region before and after the annealing process. We did not observe any significant difference in the bulk density of defects due to the anneal. We also studied the temperature dependence of the reverse currents and found a low activation energy. Our results are interpreted in terms of electrical defects at the metal-GaN surface.

Reactions between electron beam evaporated thin films of Ni/Au, Pd/Au, and Cr/Au on p-GaN with a carrier concentration of 9.8 × 1016 cm−3 were investigated in terms of their structural and electronic properties both as-deposited and following heat treatments up to 600°C (furnace anneals) and 900°C (RTA) in a flowing N2 ambient. Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) depth profiles were used to study the interfacial reactions between the contact metals and the p-GaN. The electrical properties were studied using room temperature current-voltage (1-V) measurements and the predominant conduction mechanisms in each contact scheme were determined from temperature dependent I-V measurements. The metallization schemes consisted of a 500 Å interfacial layer of Ni, Pd, or Cr followed by a 1000 Å capping layer of Au. All schemes were shown to be rectifying as-deposited with increased ohmic character upon heat treatment. The Cr/Au contacts became ohmic upon heating to 900°C for 15 seconds while the other schemes remained rectifying with lower breakdown voltages following heat treatment. The specific contact resistance of the Cr/Au contact was measured to be 4.3×10−1 Ωcm2. Both Ni and Cr have been shown to react with the underlying GaN above 400 °C while no evidence of a Pd:GaN reaction was seen. Pd forms a solid solution with the Au capping layer while both Ni and Cr tend to diffuse through the capping layer to the surface. All contacts were shown to have a combination of thermionic emission and thermionic field emission as their dominant conduction mechanism, depending on the magnitude of the applied reverse bias.

We report on a study of Al and Ti/Al contacts to n-type GaN. Al contacts on n-GaN (7 x l017cm-3) annealed in forming gas at 600°C reached a minimum contact resistivity of 8x10~6Qcm2 and had much better thermal stability than reported by previous researchers. Ti/Al (35nm/l 15nm) contacts on n-GaN (5xl0I7cm~3) had resistivities of 7 x l0"6Qcm2 and 5xl0"6Qcm2 after annealing in Ar at 400°C for 5min and 600°C for 15sec, respectively. Depth profiles of Ti/Al contacts annealed at 400°C showed that low contact resistance was only achieved after Al diffused to the GaN interface. We propose that the mechanism for ohmic contact formation in Ti/Al contacts annealed in the 400-600°C range includes reduction of the native oxide on GaN by Ti and formation of an Al-Ti intermetallic phase in intimate contact with the GaN. Contacts with different Ti/Al layer thicknesses were investigated and those with 50nm/100nm layers had the same low resistance and better stability than 25nm/125nm contacts.

A new metallization scheme has been developed to form ohmic contacts to n-GaN. Contacts were fabricated by sputtering the intermetallic compound, PtIn2 on n-GaN (n ∼ 5 ×l017 cm−3) grown by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE) with some of the contacts subjected to rapid thermal annealing. Contacts in the as-deposited state exhibited nearly ohmic behavior with a specific contact resistance of 1.2 × 10−2 Ω cm2. Contacts subjected to rapid thermal annealing at 800 °C for 1 minute exhibited linear current-voltage characteristics and a decrease in contact resistance. To rationalize the reaction at the contact interface the phase diagram of the PtIn2-PtGa2-InN-GaN reciprocal system at 800 °C was calculated based on known and estimated thermodynamic values. This phase diagram suggests that there will be a solid state exchange of In and Ga atoms at the Ptln2/GaN contact interface producing (InxGa1-x)N and Pt(In,Ga)2. Results from Auger depth profiling used to examine the Ptln2/n-GaN contacts are consistent with this estimated phase diagram information. It is proposed that the formation of (InxGa1-x)N at the contact interface is responsible for the ohmic behavior of Ptln2 contacts.

In this paper we describe the field emission from wide band-gap semiconductor thin film electron sources as a three-step process. Internal field emission is the mechanism for electron injection at the metal-semiconductor cathode interface. Under an internal field, electrons injected into the conduction band can propagate quasi-ballistically through the thin semiconductor film. At the vacuum interface, they are field emitted across a PEA or NEA surface. Consistent with the electron injection mechanism we have done molecular dynamics simulations for GaN films with an initial energy distribution corresponding to a Fowler-Nordheim (FN) spectrum. Results demonstrate quasi-ballistic propagation and approximate preservation of the FN energy distribution. Furthermore, high levels of n-doping in GaN (∼ 1017cm−3) do not inhibit transport in thin films (<0.1 μm).

We report the effect of mild annealing on Ti Schottky diodes on n-type GaN. The Ti films were deposited by electron beam evaporation on n-type GaN grown by metal organic vapor deposition. We determine the effective barrier height Ф60 by current-voltage measurements as a function of temperature. The as-deposited Ti contacts show rectifying behavior with low barrier heights Ф60 ≤ 200meV. At annealing temperatures as low as 60°C we observe an increase of the barrier height to values of 250meV. After annealing at 230°C and above a stable barrier height of 450meV is measured. The increase in barrier height is not due to any macroscopic interfacial reaction. The origin of the observed changes are discussed in terms of the Schottky-Mott model and possible microscopic interfacial reactions.

Cold cathodes have been fabricated using two different nitride structures as a thin film emitting layer. The A1N and graded AlGaN structures are prepared by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) on an n-type 6H-SiC substrate. Individual aluminum grids are perforated with an array of either 1, 3, or 5μm holes through which the emitting surface is exposed. After device fabrication, a hydrogen plasma exposure was found to be necessary to activate the cathode. The devices have displayed a limited lifetime and a small percentage of the devices operate, although half of the devices with 5μm holes functioned. The highest measured collector currents are 0.1μA for A1N and l0nA for AlGaN at grid voltages of 110V and 20V, respectively. The grid currents are typically 10 to 104 times the collector currents.

New observations are presented on the emission of electrons from n-type polycrystalline diamond and n-type boron nitride (BN) cold cathode films, both as synthesized and after post-synthesis annealing. The films have been observed to show an increase in electron emission after annealing by one to several orders of magnitude, depending upon the type of emitter and the specific surface treatment. Observations from both plasma and laser annealing treatments will be presented.

The annealed BN cold cathodes have been observed to yield stable emission currents as high as 2 A cm−2 (∼4 mA total current) at fields as low as ∼30 V μm−1. This is believed to be the highest reported current density yet observed from a planar film cold cathode emitter.

The continuous-wave (CW) operation of InGaN multi-quantum-well-structure laser diodes (LDs) was demonstrated at room temperature (RT) with a lifetime of 35 hours. The threshold current and the voltage of the LDs were 80 mA and 5.5 V, respectively. The threshold current density was 3.6 kA/cm2. Longitudinal modes with a mode separation of 0.042 nm were observed under CW operation at RT. When the temperature of the LDs was varied, large mode hopping of the emission wavelength was observed. The carrier lifetime and the threshold carrier density were estimated to be 10 ns and 2 × 1020/cm3, respectively. The beam full width at half-power values for the parallel and the perpendicular near-field patterns were 1.6 µm and 0.8 µm, respectively. Those of the far-field patterns were 6.8° and 33.6°, respectively.

Structural and optical properties of nitride based heterostructure and quantum well structure were investigated. Both AIGaN and GaInN ternary alloys are found to grow coherently on the underlying GaN layer. Compressive strain of GaInN is found to cause quantum confined Stark effect, thus affects the luminescence properties of nitride-based quantum wells.

The threshold current density of GaN-based vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs) has been estimated. It is clarified that the introduction of a quantum well structure as an active layer is very effective for a low threshold operation and that high reflective mirrors are required for low threshold GaN-based VCSELs. Also, attempts on micro-fabrication process of GaN is presented.

InGaN ternary alloys can be the basis for light emission from the near UV to the red region of the electromagnetic spectrum. When InGaN/AIGaN double heterostructures emitting different colors are stacked in a single structure, simultaneous emission of different wavelengths will be achieved. If the color and the intensity of emission for each well are adjusted properly, tailored emission spectra, including white light, will be feasible. We demonstrate this concept with two wells emitting at different wavelengths that are stacked between AIGaN barrier layers. The emitted PL spectra for the stacked structure is found to be the superposition of the emission from the individual double heterostructures that were grown separately.

Tunnel effects in luminescence spectra and electrical properties of blue InGaN/AlGaN/GaN LEDs were studied. The tunnel radiation in a spectral region of 2.1–2.4 eV predominates at low currents (J<0.2 mA). The role of tunnel effects grows as the maximum of the main blue line in LEDs is shifted to short wavelengths. The position of the tunnel maximum ћωmax is approximatly proportional to the voltage eU. The spectral band is described by the theory of tunnel radiative recombination. Current-voltage characteristics have a tunnel component at low direct and reverse currents. The distribution of charged impurities was received from dynamic capacitance measurements. There are charged layers at heterointerfaces and adjacent compensated layers in the structures. There is a high electric field in the active layer. The energy diagram is analysed.

We have studied the electroluminescence and photoluminescence of Nichia single-quantum-well Al0.2Ga0.8N/In0.45Ga0.55N/GaN green light-emitting diodes over a broad range of temperatures (15-300 K) and currents (0.2 μA - 2 A). The most striking behavior is an anomalous temperature shift of both photo- and electroluminescence, with the emission peak moving towards higher energies with increasing temperature. This blue shift is opposite to that of the energy gap of the active layer, which practically excludes interband transitions as responsible for the observed optical transitions. We suggest that population effects within the band tails can account for the observed anomaly. We also determined that the current flowing through the p-n junction is dominated by carrier tunneling, the omnipresent effect in the GaN-based optoelectronic devices.

We performed a degradation study of high-brightness Nichia single-quantum well AlGaN/InGaN/GaN green light-emitting diodes (LEDs). The devices were subjected to high current electrical stress with current pulse amplitudes between 1 A and 7 A and voltages between 10 V and 70 V with a pulse length of 100 ns and a repetition rate of 1 kHz. The study showed that when the current amplitude was increased to the 6 A - 7.5 A range, a fast (about 1 s) degradation occurred, with a visible discharge between the p and n-type electrodes. Subsequent failure analysis revealed severe damage to metal contacts which lead to the formation of shorts in the surface plane of diode. For currents smaller than 6 A, a slow degradation was observed as a decrease in optical power and an increase in the reverse current leakage. After between 24 and 100 hours however, a rapid degradation occurred which was similar to the rapid degradation observed at higher currents. Failure analysis results suggest that carbonization of the plastic encapsulation material on the diode surface leads to the discharge which destroys the diode.

To obtain small size high speed ultraviolet sources, we studied the UV generation process and efficiency of GaN Blue LEDs. The blue and UV emissions follow a 4-level recombination model. Depending on a given pump pulse amplitude the UV to blue generation ratio increases and saturates with the increasing of pump pulse duration. High efficiency, upto 450 μ W UV power at 380 nm, can be obtained from a 1.2 mW blue LED.

We report an optical degradation of an InGaN/AIGaN double-heterostructure light-emitting diode (LED) on a sapphire substrate grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. The InGaN/AIGaN LED exhibited an optical output power of 0.17 mW, external quantum efficiency of 0.2 %, and the peak emitting spectrum at 437 nm with full width at half-maximum of 63 nm under 30 mA dc operation at 300 K. The InGaN/AIGaN LED showed the optical degradation under high injected current density. Electroluminescence, electron-beam induced current and cathodoluminescence observations show that the degraded InGaN/AIGaN LED exhibits formation and propagation of dark spots and a crescent-shaped dark patch, which act as nonradiative recombination centers. The values of degradation rate under injected current density of 0.1 kA/cm2 were determined to be 1.1 × 10-3, 1.9 × 10-3 and 3.9 × 10-3 h-1 at ambient temperatures of 30, 50 and 80°C, respectively. The activation energy of degradation was also determined to be 0.23 eV.