Effect of GaN surface treatment on Al2O3/ n -GaN MOS capacitors

Tashfin Hossain, Daming Wei, James H. Edgar, Nelson Y. Garces, Neeraj Nepal, Jennifer K. Hite, Michael A. Mastro, Charles R. Eddy, Harry M. Meyer

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    48 Scopus citations

    Abstract

    The surface preparation for depositing Al2O3 for fabricating Au/Ni/Al2O3/n-GaN (0001) metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) capacitors was optimized as a step toward realization of high performance GaN MOSFETs. The GaN surface treatments studied included cleaning with piranha (H2O2:H2SO4 = 1:5), (NH4)2S, and 30% HF etches. By several metrics, the MOS capacitor with the piranha-etched GaN had the best characteristics. It had the lowest capacitance-voltage hysteresis, the smoothest Al2O3 surface as determined by atomic force microscopy (0.2 nm surface roughness), the lowest carbon concentration (∼0.78%) at the Al2O3/n-GaN interface (from x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy), and the lowest oxide-trap charge (QT = 1.6 × 1011cm-2eV-1). Its interface trap density (Dit = 3.7 × 1012cm-2eV-1), as measured with photon-assisted capacitance- voltage method, was the lowest from conduction band-edge to midgap.

    Original languageEnglish
    Article number061201
    JournalJournal of Vacuum Science and Technology B: Nanotechnology and Microelectronics
    Volume33
    Issue number6
    DOIs
    StatePublished - Nov 1 2015

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