Effect of annealing on the electrical performance of N-polarity GaN Schottky barrier diodes

A nitrogen-polarity(N-polarity)GaN-based high electron mobility transistor(HEMT)shows great potential for high-fre-quency solid-state power amplifier applications because its two-dimensional electron gas(2DEG)density and mobility are mini-mally affected by device scaling.However,the Schottky barrier height(SBH)of N-polarity GaN is low.This leads to a large gate leakage in N-polarity GaN-based HEMTs.In this work,we investigate the effect of annealing on the electrical characteristics of N-polarity GaN-based Schottky barrier diodes(SBDs)with Ni/Au electrodes.Our results show that the annealing time and tem-perature have a large influence on the electrical properties of N-polarity GaN SBDs.Compared to the N-polarity SBD without annealing,the SBH and rectification ratio at±5 V of the SBD are increased from 0.51 eV and 30 to 0.77 eV and 7700,respec-tively,and the ideal factor of the SBD is decreased from 1.66 to 1.54 after an optimized annealing process.Our analysis results suggest that the improvement of the electrical properties of SBDs after annealing is mainly due to the reduction of the inter-face state density between Schottky contact metals and N-polarity GaN and the increase of barrier height for the electron emis-sion from the trap state at low reverse bias.

Design and simulation of AlN-based vertical Schottky barrier diodes

The key parameters of vertical AlN Schottky barrier diodes(SBDs) with variable drift layer thickness(DLT) and drift layer concentration(DLC) are investigated. The specific on-resistance(R_(on,sp)) decreased to 0.5 mΩ · cm^(2) and the breakdown voltage(V_(BR)) decreased from 3.4 kV to 1.1 kV by changing the DLC from 10^(15) cm^(-3) to 3×10^(16) cm^(-3). The VBRincreases from 1.5 kV to 3.4 kV and the Ron,sp also increases to 12.64 mΩ · cm^(2) by increasing DLT from 4-μm to 11-μm. The VBRenhancement results from the increase of depletion region extension. The Baliga's figure of merit(BFOM) of3.8 GW/cm^(2) was obtained in the structure of 11-μm DLT and 10^(16) cm^(-3) DLC without FP. When DLT or DLC is variable,the consideration of the value of BFOM is essential. In this paper, we also present the vertical AlN SBD with a field plate(FP), which decreases the crowding of electric field in electrode edge. All the key parameters were optimized by simulating based on Silvaco-ATLAS.

Characterization of ion-implanted 4H-SiC Schottky barrier diodes

Ion-implantation layers are fabricated by multiple nitrogen ion-implantations （3 times for sample A and 4 times for sample B） into a p-type 4H-SiC epitaxial layer. The implantation depth profiles are calculated by using the Monte Carlo simulator TRIM. The fabrication process and the I-V and C V characteristics of the lateral Ti/4H-SiC Schottky barrier diodes （SBDs） fabricated on these multiple box-like ion-implantation layers are presented in detail. Measurements of the reverse I V characteristics demonstrate a low reverse current, which is good enough for many SiC-based devices such as SiC metal-semiconductor field-effect transistors （MESFETs）, and SiC static induction transistors （SITs）. The parameters of the diodes are extracted from the forward I-V and C-V characteristics. The values of ideality factor n of SBDs for samples A and B are 3.0 and 3.5 respectively, and the values of series resistance Rs are 11.9 and 1.0 kf~ respectively. The values of barrier height φB of Ti/4H-SiC are 0.95 and 0.72 eV obtained by the I-V method and 1.14 and 0.93 eV obtained by the C-V method for samples A and B respectively. The activation rates for the implanted nitrogen ions of samples A and B are 2% and 4% respectively extracted from C V testing results.

Breakdown characteristics of AlGaN/GaN Schottky barrier diodes fabricated on a silicon substrate

In this work, the breakdown characteristics of AlGaN/GaN planar Schottky barrier diodes （SBDs） fabricated on the silicon substrate are investigated. The breakdown voltage （BV） of the SBDs first increases as a function of the anodeto-cathode distance and then tends to saturate at larger inter-electrode spacing. The saturation behavior of the BV is likely caused by the vertical breakdown through the intrinsic GaN buffer layer on silicon, which is supported by the post-breakdown primary leakage path analysis with the emission microscopy. Surface passivation and field plate termination are found effective to suppress the leakage current and enhance the BV of the SBDs. A high BV of 601 V is obtained with a low on-resistance of 3.15 mΩ·cm^2.

Determination of the series resistance under the Schottky contacts of AlGaN/AlN/GaN Schottky barrier diodes

Rectangular AlGaN/AlN/GaN heterostructure field-effect transistors （HFETs） were fabricated, and the gate and the source of the HFETs consisted of AlGaN/AlN/CaN Schottky barrier diodes （SBDs）. Based on the measured forward current-voltage and the capacitance-voltage characteristics of the AlGaN/AlN/GaN SBDs, the series resistance under the Schottky contacts （Rs） was calculated using the method of power consumption, which has been proved to be valid. Finally, the method of power consumption for calculating RS was successfully used to study the two-dimensional electron gas electron mobility for a series of circular AlGaN/AlN/GaN SBDs. It is shown that the series resistance under the Schottky contacts cannot be neglected and is important for analysing and characterizing the AIGaN/AIN/GaN SBDs and the AlGaN/AlN/GaN HFETs.

Analytical model for capacitance-voltage characteristics of ion-implanted 4H silicon carbide Schottky barrier diodes

In order to undertake theory analysis in the application area of switching,frequency and power devices,an analytical model for capacitance-voltage (C-V) characteristics of ion-implanted 4H silicon carbide (SiC) Schottky barrier diodes (SBDs) was investigated.This model was established by considering the effects of incomplete ionization of nitrogen in 4H-SiC,the Poole-Frenkel on the ionization energy,and the ion-implanted nitrogen donor profiles.The simulation process is discussed in detail for two multiple nitrogen ion-implanted 4H-SiC SBDs (three and four fold ion-implantations) designed and fabricated in the experiments using this model at different activation rates.An agreement between the modeled C-V curves and the measured results for two ion-implanted 4H-SiC SBDs fabricated is shown.This capacitance model has the potential to be used to simulate and design ion-implanted SiC devices concerned in the future.

Study and optimal simulation of 4H-SiC floating junction Schottky barrier diodes' structures and electric properties

This paper stuides the structures of 4H SiC floating junction Schottky barrier diodes. Some structure parameters of devices are optimized with commercial simulator based on forward and reverse electrical characteristics. Compared with conventional power Schottky barrier diodes, the devices are featured by highly doped drift region and embedded floating junction layers, which can ensure high breakdown voltage while keeping lower specific on-state resistance, and solve the contradiction between forward voltage drop and breakdown voltage. The simulation results show that with optimized structure parameter, the breakdown voltage can reach 4.36 kV and the specific on-resistance is 5.8 mΩ.cm2 when the Baliga figure of merit value of 13.1 GW/cm2 is achieved.

A simulation study of field plate termination in Ga2O3 Schottky barrier diodes

In this work, the field plate termination is studied for Ga2O3Schottky barrier diodes(SBDs) by simulation. The influence of field plate overlap, dielectric material and thickness on the termination electric field distribution are demonstrated.It is found that the optimal thickness increases with reverse bias increasing for all the three dielectrics of SiO2, Al2O3, and HfO2. As the thickness increases, the maximum electric field intensity decreases in SiO2and Al2O3, but increases in HfO2.Furthermore, it is found that SiO2and HfO2are suitable for the 600 V rate Ga2O3SBD, and Al2O3is suitable for both600 V and 1200 V rate Ga2O3SBD. In addition, the comparison of Ga2O3SBDs between the SiC and GaN counterpart reveals that for Ga2O3, the breakdown voltage bottleneck is the dielectric. While, for SiC and GaN, the bottleneck is mainly the semiconductor itself.

High energy electron radiation effect on Ni and Ti/4H-SiC Schottky barrier diodes at room temperature

This paper reports that Ni and Ti/4H-SiC Schottky barrier diodes （SBDs） were fabricated and irradiated with 1 MeV electrons up to a dose of 3.43 × 10^14 e/cm2. After radiation, the Schottky barrier height φB of the Ni/4H-SiC SBD increased from 1.20 eV to 1.21 eV, but decreased from 0.95 eV to 0.94 eV for the Ti/4H-SiC SBD. The degradation of φB could be explained by interface states of changed Schottky contacts. The on-state resistance Rs of both diodes increased with the dose, which can be ascribed to the radiation defects. The reverse current of the Ni/4H-SiC SBD slightly increased, but for the Ti/4H-SiC SBD it basically remained the same. At room temperature, φB of the diodes recovered completely after one week, and the RS partly recovered.

Device topological thermal management of β-Ga_(2)O_(3) Schottky barrier diodes

The ultra-wide bandgap semiconductor β gallium oxide(β-Ga_(2) O_(3)) gives promise to low conduction loss and high power for electronic devices. However, due to the natural poor thermal conductivity of β-Ga_(2) O_(3), their power devices suffer from serious self-heating effect. To overcome this problem, we emphasize on the effect of device structure on peak temperature in β-Ga_(2) O_(3) Schottky barrier diodes(SBDs) using TCAD simulation and experiment. The SBD topologies including crystal orientation of β-Ga_(2) O_(3), work function of Schottky metal, anode area, and thickness, were simulated in TCAD, showing that the thickness of β-Ga_(2) O_(3) plays a key role in reducing the peak temperature of diodes. Hence, we fabricated β-Ga_(2) O_(3) SBDs with three different thickness epitaxial layers and five different thickness substrates. The surface temperature of the diodes was measured using an infrared thermal imaging camera. The experimental results are consistent with the simulation results. Thus, our results provide a new thermal management strategy for high power β-Ga_(2) O_(3) diode.

Modeling,simulations,and optimizations of gallium oxide on gallium-nitride Schottky barrier diodes

With technology computer-aided design(TCAD)simulation software,we design a new structure of gallium oxide on gallium-nitride Schottky barrier diode(SBD).The parameters of gallium oxide are defined as new material parameters in the material library,and the SBD turn-on and breakdown behavior are simulated.The simulation results reveal that this new structure has a larger turn-on current than Ga2O3 SBD and a larger breakdown voltage than Ga N SBD.Also,to solve the lattice mismatch problem in the real epitaxy,we add a Zn O layer as a transition layer.The simulations show that the device still has good properties after adding this layer.

Improvement of Ga_(2)O_(3)vertical Schottky barrier diode by constructing NiO/Ga_(2)O_(3)heterojunction

The high critical electric field strength of Ga_(2)O_(3)enables higher operating voltages and reduced switching losses in power electronic devices.Suitable Schottky metals and epitaxial films are essential for further enhancing device performance.In this work,the fabrication of vertical Ga_(2)O_(3)barrier diodes with three different barrier metals was carried out on an n--Ga_(2)O_(3)homogeneous epitaxial film deposited on an n+-β-Ga_(2)O_(3)substrate by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition,excluding the use of edge terminals.The ideal factor,barrier height,specific on-resistance,and breakdown voltage characteristics of all devices were investigated at room temperature.In addition,the vertical Ga_(2)O_(3)barrier diodes achieve a higher breakdown volt-age and exhibit a reverse leakage as low as 4.82×10^(-8)A/cm^(2)by constructing a NiO/Ga_(2)O_(3)heterojunction.Therefore,Ga_(2)O_(3)power detailed investigations into Schottky barrier metal and NiO/Ga_(2)O_(3)heterojunction of Ga_(2)O_(3)homogeneous epitaxial films are of great research potential in high-efficiency,high-power,and high-reliability applications.

Effect of diode size and series resistance on barrier height and ideality factor in nearly ideal Au/n type-GaAs micro Schottky contact diodes

Small high-quality Au/n type-GaAs Schottky barrier diodes （SBDs） with low reverse leakage current are produced using lithography. Their effective barrier heights （BHs） and ideality factors from current-voltage （I-V） characteristics are measured by a Pico ampere meter and home-built I-V instrument. In spite of the identical preparation of the diodes there is a diode-to-diode variation in ideality factor and barrier height parameters. Measurement of topology of a surface of a thin metal film with atomic force microscope （AFM） shows that Au-n type-GaAS SD consists of a set of parallel-connected micro and nanocontacts diodes with sizes approximately in a range of 100-200 nm. Between barrier height and ideality factor there is an inversely proportional dependency. With the diameter of contact increasing from 5 μm up to 200 μm, the barrier height increases from 0.833 up to 0.933 eV and its ideality factor decreases from 1.11 down to 1.006. These dependencies show the reduction of the contribution of the peripheral current with the diameter of contact increasing. We find the effect of series resistance on barrier height and ideality factor.

Planar InP-based Schottky barrier diodes for terahertz applications

Based on characteristics such as low barrier and high electron mobility of lattice matched In;Ga;As layer,InP-based Schottky barrier diodes（SBDs） exhibit the superiorities in achieving a lower turn-on voltage and series resistance in comparison with GaAs ones.Planar InP-based SBDs have been developed in this paper.Measurements show that a low forward turn-on voltage of less than 0.2 V and a cutoff frequency of up to 3.4 THz have been achieved.The key factors of the diode such as series resistance and the zero-biased junction capacitance are measured to be 3.32Ωand 9.1 fF,respectively.They are highly consistent with the calculated values.The performances of the InP-based SBDs in this work,such as low noise and low loss,are promising for applications in the terahertz mixer,multiplier and detector circuits.

Physical mechanism of field modulation effects in ion implanted edge termination of vertical GaN Schottky barrier diodes

In this study,the physical properties of F ion-implanted GaN were thoroughly studied,and the related electric-field modulation mechanisms in ion-implanted edge termination were revealed.Transmission electron microscopy re.sults indicate that the ion-implanted region maintains a single-crystal structure even with the implantation of high-energy F ions,indicating that the high resistivity of the edge termination region is not induced by amorphization.Alternately,ion implantation-induced deep levels could compensate the electrons and lead to a highly resistive layer In addition to the bulk ffect,the direct bombardment of high-energy F ions resulted in a rough and nitrogen-deficient surface,which was confirmed via atomic force microscopy(AFM)and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy,The implanted surface with a large density of nitrogen vacancies can accommodate electrons,and it is more conductive than the bulk in the implanted region,which is validated via spreading resistance profiling and conductive AFM measurements.Under reverse bias,the implanted surface can spread the potential in the lateral direction,whereas the acceptor traps capture electrons acting as space charges,shifting the peak electric field into the bulk region in the vertical direction.As a result,the Schottky barrier diode terminated with high-energy F ion-implanted regions exhibits a breakdown voltage of over 1.2 kv.

Barrier height and ideality factor dependency on identically produced small Au/p-Si Schottky barrier diodes

Small high-quality Au/P-Si Schottky barrier diodes（SBDs） with an extremely low reverse leakage current using wet lithography were produced.Their effective barrier heights（BHs） and ideality factors from current-voltage （Ⅰ-Ⅴ） characteristics were measured by a conducting probe atomic force microscope（C-AFM）.In spite of the identical preparation of the diodes there was a diode-to-diode variation in ideality factor and barrier height parameters.By extrapolating the plots the built in potential of the Au /p-Si contact was obtained as V_（bi）=0.5425 V and the barrier height valueΦ_（b（c-V）） was calculated to beΦ_（B（C-V））=0.7145 V for Au/p-Si.It is found that for the diodes with diameters smaller than 100μm,the diode barrier height and ideality factor dependency to their diameters and correlation between the diode barrier height and its ideality factor are nonlinear,where similar to the earlier reported different metal semiconductor diodes in the literature,these parameters for the here manufactured diodes with diameters more than 100μm are also linear.Based on the very obvious sub-nanometer C-AFM produced pictures the scientific evidence behind this controversy is also explained.

High frequency doubling efficiency THz GaAs Schottky barrier diode based on inverted trapezoidal epitaxial cross-section structure

A high-performance terahertz Schottky barrier diode(SBD)with an inverted trapezoidal epitaxial cross-sectional structure featuring high varactor characteristics and reverse breakdown characteristics is reported in this paper.Inductively coupled plasma dry etching and dissolution wet etching are used to define the profile of the epitaxial layer,by which the voltage-dependent variation trend of the thickness of the metal-semiconductor contact depletion layer is modified.The simulation of the inverted trapezoidal epitaxial cross-section SBD is also conducted to explain the physical mechanism of the electric field and space charge region area.Compared with the normal structure,the grading coefficient M increases from 0.47 to 0.52,and the capacitance modulation ratio(C^(max)/C_(min))increases from 6.70 to 7.61.The inverted trapezoidal epitaxial cross-section structure is a promising approach to improve the variable-capacity ratio by eliminating the accumulation of charge at the Schottky electrode edge.A 190 GHz frequency doubler based on the inverted trapezoidal epitaxial cross-section SBD also shows a doubling efficiency of 35%compared to that 30%of a normal SBD.

High performance trench diamond junction barrier Schottky diode with a sidewall-enhanced structure

The trench diamond junction barrier Schottky(JBS)diode with a sidewall enhanced structure is designed by Silvaco simulation.Comparing with the conventional trench JBS diode,Schottky contact areas are introduced on the sidewall of the trench beside the top cathode.The sidewall Schottky contact weakens the junction field-effect transistor effect between the trenches to realize a low on-resistance and a high Baliga's figure of merit(FOM)value.In addition,the existence of the n-type diamond helps to suppress the electric field crowding effect and enhance the reverse breakdown voltage.With the optimal parameters of device structure,a high Baliga's FOM value of 2.28 GW/cm^(2) is designed.Therefore,the proposed sidewall-enhanced trench JBS diode is a promising component for the applications in diamond power electronics.

β-Ga_(2)O_(3) junction barrier Schottky diode with NiO p-well floating field rings

Recently,β-Ga_(2)O_(3),an ultra-wide bandgap semiconductor,has shown great potential to be used in power devices blessed with its unique material properties.For instance,the measured average critical field of the vertical Schottky barrier diode(SBD)based onβ-Ga_(2)O_(3) has reached 5.45 MV/cm,and no device in any material has measured a greater before.However,the high electric field of theβ-Ga_(2)O_(3) SBD makes it challenging to manage the electric field distribution and leakage current.Here,we showβ-Ga_(2)O_(3) junction barrier Schottky diode with NiO p-well floating field rings(FFRs).For the central anode,we filled a circular trench array with NiO to reduce the surface field under the Schottky contact between them to reduce the leakage current of the device.For the anode edge,experimental results have demonstrated that the produced NiO/β-Ga_(2)O_(3) heterojunction FFRs enable the spreading of the depletion region,thereby mitigating the crowding effect of electric fields at the anode edge.Additionally,simulation results indicated that the p-NiO field plate structure designed at the edges of the rings and central anode can further reduce the electric field.This work verified the feasibility of the heterojunction FFRs inβ-Ga_(2)O_(3) devices based on the experimental findings and provided ideas for managing the electric field ofβ-Ga_(2)O_(3) SBD.

Design optimization of high breakdown voltage vertical GaN junction barrier Schottky diode with high-K/low-K compound dielectric structure

A vertical junction barrier Schottky diode with a high-K/low-K compound dielectric structure is proposed and optimized to achieve a high breakdown voltage(BV).There is a discontinuity of the electric field at the interface of high-K and low-K layers due to the different dielectric constants of high-K and low-K dielectric layers.A new electric field peak is introduced in the n-type drift region of junction barrier Schottky diode(JBS),so the distribution of electric field in JBS becomes more uniform.At the same time,the effect of electric-power line concentration at the p-n junction interface is suppressed due to the effects of the high-K dielectric layer and an enhancement of breakdown voltage can be achieved.Numerical simulations demonstrate that GaN JBS with a specific on-resistance(R_(on,sp)) of 2.07 mΩ·cm^(2) and a BV of 4171 V which is 167% higher than the breakdown voltage of the common structure,resulting in a high figure-of-merit(FOM) of 8.6 GW/cm^(2),and a low turn-on voltage of 0.6 V.