Overview on Pendeo-Epitaxy of GaN-Based Heterostructures for Novel Devices Applications

Abstract

A relatively new class of materials known as wide bandgap materials and the corresponding devices fabricated from them have extremely useful characteristics for high temperature, high-frequency, high-power applications in numerous army systems and components. However, the technology for these new materials is not mature enough and these materials contain various types of structural defects in high concentrations. It is well known that structural defects degrade the performance of the electronic devices and greatly diminish their reliability. Therefore, various approaches for materials and device optimization have been utilized in order to improve the operational characteristics of the wide bandgap electronic devices. One approach for defect reduction and improved electronic performance of wide-bandgap devices fabricated from material such as gallium nitride (GaN) is via pendeo-epitaxy. Pendeo-epitaxy as a technology is known to enable drastic reduction of the densities of structural defects in GaN over three to four orders of magnitude. We have used metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) technique to grow pendeo-epitaxial (PE)-GaN, performed analysis of the morphology, structure, and electrical properties via numerous characterization techniques available at ARL, and correlated the materials and electrical characteristics with the growth and processing conditions. Further, we designed and fabricated test device structures in order to investigate the improved electronic performance of the Shottky contacts and high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) and correlate the improved devices performance with the improved structural quality of the GaN material.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Nov 01, 2006
Accession Number
ADA481726

Entities

People

  • D. Ewing
  • D. N. Stepp
  • J. Molstad
  • K. A. Jones
  • M. A. Derenge
  • M. H. Ervin
  • P. B. Shah
  • T. S. Zheleva
  • U. Lee

Organizations

  • United States Army Research Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Advanced Electronics

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Band Gaps
  • Chemical Vapor Deposition
  • Compound Semiconductors
  • Crystallography
  • Crystals
  • Electron Mobility
  • Electrons
  • Epitaxial Growth
  • Heterojunctions
  • High Electron Mobility Transistors
  • Materials
  • Power Electronics
  • Semiconductor Devices
  • Semiconductors
  • Silicon Carbide
  • Vapor Deposition
  • Wide Bandgap Semiconductors

Fields of Study

  • Materials science

Readers

  • Semiconductor Device Technology

Technology Areas

  • Microelectronics