A Study of Metal-Semiconductor Contacts on Indium Phosphide.
Abstract
This report describes the research accomplished during the first eight months of a 20-month program of research on metal-semiconductor contacts to indium phosphide (InP). The Schottky barrier energy Phi sub B and contact resistance are correlated to the metallurgical behavior of metal/InP contacts by using Auger electron spectroscopy. A carefully processed set of samples were used to show conclusively that Phi sub B is greater on p-type InP than on n-type InP. This is shown to be the opposite from the behavior of GaAs and Si Schottky diodes fabricated at the same time using the same process. Several metallic structures have been investigated for use as ohmic contacts to InP. A Ni/Au/Ge system is shown to provide low resistance contacts to n-type InP after heat treatment. For ohmic contact to p-type InP, two metal systems have been tested, but neither system has proven to be suitable for practical InP devices as of yet. Low resistance contacts are found with heat-treated Au/Mg contacts; however, the contact surfaces are non-uniform. Pd was substituted for Au in the Au/Mg contact in order to reduce In-Au alloying. Preliminary results indicate that the contact resistance of the Pd/Mg contacts is high. This may result from MgO formation at the critical InP interface during contact fabrication. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 01, 1980
- Accession Number
- ADA087666
Entities
People
- G. Y. Robinson
Organizations
- University of Minnesota