Study on avalanche breakdown and Poole–Frenkel emission in Al-rich AlGaN grown on single crystal AlN

Abstract

We demonstrate that theoretical breakdown fields can be realized in practically dislocation free Al-rich AlGaN p-n junctions grown on AlN single crystal substrates. Furthermore, we also demonstrate a leakage current density in AlGaN that is independent of the device area, indicating a bulk leakage phenomenon and not surface or mesa-edge related. Accordingly, we identified the Poole–Frenkel emission from two types of point-defect traps in AlGaN as the primary source of reverse leakage before breakdown. Mg-doped AlGaN exhibited leakage currents due to a shallow trap at ∼0.16 eV in contrast with leakage currents observed in Si-doped AlGaN due to a deep trap at ∼1.8 eV.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
Nov 01, 2021
Source ID
10.1063/5.0062831

Entities

People

  • Dolar Khachariya
  • Erhard Kohn
  • Ji Hyun Kim
  • M. Hayden Breckenridge
  • Pegah Bagheri
  • Pramod Reddy
  • Ramón Collazo
  • Ronny Kirste
  • Seiji Mita
  • Spyridon Pavlidis
  • W. J. Mecouch
  • Yan Guan
  • Zlatko Sitar

Organizations

  • Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
  • National Aeronautics and Space Administration
  • North Carolina State University

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Engineering

Readers

  • Semiconductor Device Technology