Activation of buried p-GaN in MOCVD-regrown vertical structures

Abstract

Thermal activation of buried p-type GaN is investigated in metal-organic chemical vapor deposition-regrown vertical structures, where the buried p-GaN is re-passivated by hydrogen during regrowth. The activation is performed by exposing the buried p-GaN through etched sidewalls and characterized by reverse breakdown measurements on vertical diodes. The effect of the n-type doping level on the activation has been observed. After 725 °C/30 min annealing in a dry air environment, the buried p-GaN with a regrown unintentionally-doped (UID) capping layer is sufficiently activated due to significant Mg-incorporation in the UID layer, allowing for hydrogen up-diffusion. With an additional regrown n+-GaN capping layer (i.e., in n+/i/p-n diodes), only lateral diffusion of H out of the exposed mesa sidewall is permitted. A critical lateral dimension between 10 and 20 μm is found for the n+/i/p-n diodes, under which the buried p-GaN is sufficiently activated. The diodes with activated buried p-GaN achieved up to 1200 V breakdown voltage, indicating that over 28% of the Mg dopants is activated. The study demonstrates the effectiveness of sidewall p-GaN activation in achieving high breakdown voltage pertinent to GaN vertical power devices, while providing guidelines on the required device geometry.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
Aug 06, 2018
Source ID
10.1063/1.5041879

Entities

People

  • Debdeep Jena
  • Huili Grace Xing
  • Jinqiao Xie
  • Kazuki Nomoto
  • Kevin M. Lee
  • Manyam Pilla
  • Mingda Zhu
  • S. M. Islam
  • Wenshen Li
  • Xiang Gao
  • Zongyang Hu

Organizations

  • ARPA-E
  • Air Force Office of Scientific Research
  • Cornell University
  • National Science Foundation
  • Qorvo

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Materials science

Readers

  • Semiconductor Device Technology