Proximity Effects of Beryllium-Doped GaN Buffer Layers on the Electronic Properties of Epitaxial AlGaN/GaN Heterostructures

Abstract

AlGaN/GaN/Be:GaN heterostructures have been grown by rf-plasma molecular beam epitaxy on freestanding semi-insulating GaN substrates, employing unintentionally-doped (UID) GaN buffer layers with thicknesses, d(sub UID), varying between 50 nm and 500 nm. We have found that the heterostructures with UID buffers thicker than 200 nm exhibit much improved Hall properties and inter-device isolation current compared to heterostructures with d(sub UID) < 200 nm. The output conductance of devices fabricated on these heterostructures increases as d(sub UID) decreases below 200 nm, and devices with gate lengths of 240 nm and 1 micron exhibited no significant difference in output conductance. Evidence of buffer trapping is observed in devices for which d(sub UID) smaller or equal to 100 nm. The observed effects are tentatively explained by the presence of parallel conduction paths in samples with non-optimized UID buffer thickness.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 17, 2010
Accession Number
ADA524729

Entities

People

  • D. A. Deen
  • D. Scott Katzer
  • David F. Storm
  • David J. Meyer
  • Edward A. Preble
  • J. A. Roussos
  • K. R. Evans
  • R. Bass
  • S. C. Binari
  • T. Paskova

Organizations

  • United States Naval Research Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Advanced Electronics
  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Beryllium
  • Compound Semiconductors
  • Electrical Properties
  • Electron Mobility
  • Electronics
  • Electrons
  • Epitaxial Growth
  • Heterojunctions
  • High Electron Mobility Transistors
  • Molecular Beam Epitaxy
  • Molecular Beams
  • Resistance
  • Semiconductor Devices
  • Semiconductors
  • Solid State Electronics
  • Substrates
  • Thickness

Fields of Study

  • Materials science

Readers

  • Semiconductor Device Technology

Technology Areas

  • Microelectronics
  • Microelectronics - Graphene