Physical mechanism of oxygen diffusion in the formation of Ga_(2)O_(3) Ohmic contacts

The formation of low-resistance Ohmic contacts in Ga_(2)O_(3) is crucial for high-performance electronic devices. Conventionally, a titanium/gold(Ti/Au) electrode is rapidly annealed to achieve Ohmic contacts, resulting in mutual diffusion of atoms at the interface. However, the specific role of diffusing elements in Ohmic contact formation remains unclear.In this work, we investigate the contribution of oxygen atom diffusion to the formation of Ohmic contacts in Ga_(2)O_(3). We prepare a Ti/Au electrode on a single crystal substrate and conduct a series of electrical and structural characterizations.Using density functional theory, we construct a model of the interface and calculate the charge density, partial density of states, planar electrostatic potential energy, and I–V characteristics. Our results demonstrate that the oxygen atom diffusion effectively reduces the interface barrier, leading to low-resistance Ohmic contacts in Ga_(2)O_(3). These findings provide valuable insights into the underlying mechanisms of Ohmic contact formation and highlight the importance of considering the oxygen atom diffusion in the design of Ga_(2)O_(3)-based electronic devices.

Effect of surface modification on the radiation stability of diamond ohmic contacts

The ohmic contact interface between diamond and metal is essential for the application of diamond detectors.Surface modification can significantly affect the contact performance and eliminate the interface polarization effect.However,the radiation stability of a diamond detector is also sensitive to surface modification.In this work,the influence of surface modification technology on a diamond ohmic contact under high-energy radiation was investigated.Before radiation,the specific contact resistivities(ρc)between Ti/Pt/Au-hydrogen-terminated diamond(H-diamond)and Ti/Pt/Au-oxygenterminated diamond(O-diamond)were 2.0×10^(-4)W·cm^(2) and 4.3×10^(-3)Wcm^(2),respectively.After 10 MeV electron radiation,the ρc of Ti/Pt/Au H-diamond and Ti/Pt/Au O-diamond were 5.3×10^(-3)W·cm^(2)and 9.1×10^(-3)W·cm^(2),respectively.The rates of change of ρc of H-diamond and O-diamond after radiation were 2550%and 112%,respectively.The electron radiation promotes bond reconstruction of the diamond surface,resulting in an increase in ρc.

Low-resistance ohmic contacts on InAlN/GaN heterostructures with MOCVD-regrown n+-InGaN and mask-free regrowth process

This paper studied the low-resistance ohmic contacts on InAlN/GaN with metal–organic chemical vapor deposition(MOCVD)regrowth technique.The 150-nm regrown n-InGaN exhibits a low sheet resistance of 31Ω/□,resulting in an extremely low contact resistance of 0.102Ω·mm between n^(+)-InGaN and InAlN/GaN channels.Mask-free regrowth process was also used to significantly improve the sheet resistance of InAlN/GaN with MOCVD regrown ohmic contacts.Then,the diffusion mechanism between n^(+)-InGaN and InAlN during regrowth process was investigated with electrical and structural characterizations,which could benefit the further process optimization.

Evidence of the Role of Carbon Vacancies in Nickel-Based Ohmic Contacts to n-Type Silicon Carbide

N-wells are created by P＋ ion implantation into Si-faced p-type 4H-SiC epilayer. Ti and Ni are deposited in sequence on the surface of the active regions. Ni2Si is identified as the dominant phase by X-ray diffraction （XRD） analysis after metallization annealing. An amorphous C film at the Ni2 Si/SiC interface is confirmed by an X-ray energy-dispersive spectrometer （XEDS）. The Ni2Si and amorphous C film are etched away selectively,followed by deposition of new metal films without annealing. Measurement of the current-voltage characteristics shows that the contacts are still ohmic after the Ni2 Si and amorphous C film are replaced by new metal films. The sheet resistance Rsh of the implanted layers decreases from 975 to 438f2/D, because carbon vacancies （Vc） appeared during annealing,which act as donors for electrons in SiC.

High-Frequency AlGaN/GaN High-Electron-Mobility Transistors with Regrown Ohmic Contacts by Metal-Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition

Nonalloyed ohmic contacts regrown by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition are performed on AlGaN/GaN high-electron-mobility transistors. Low ohmic contact resistance of 0.15Ω.mm is obtained. It is found that the sidewall obliquity near the regrown interface induced by the plasma dry etching has great influence on the total contact resistance. The fabricated device with a 100-nm T-shaped gate demonstrates a maximum drain current density of 0.95 A/mm at Vgs = 1 V and a maximum peak extrinsic transcondutance Gm of 216mS/ram. Moreover, a current gain cut-off frequency fT of 115 GHz and a maximum oscillation frequency fmax of 127 GHz are achieved.

Fabrication of n^+ Polysilicon Ohmic Contacts with a Heterojunction Structure to n-Type 4H-Silicon Carbide

Polysilicon ohmic contacts to n-type 4H-SiC have been fabricated. TLM （transfer length method） test patterns with polysilicon structure are formed on n-wells created by phosphorus ion （P^＋） implantation into a Si-faced p-type 4H-SiC epilayer. The polysilicon is deposited using low-pressure chemical vapor deposition （LPCVD） and doped by phosphorous ions implantation followed by diffusion to obtain a sheet resistance of 22Ω/□. The specific contact resistance pc of n^＋ polysilicon contact to n-type 4H-SiC as low as 3.82 × 10^-5Ω· cm^2 is achieved. The result for sheet resistance Rsh of the phosphorous ion implanted layers in SiC is about 4.9kΩ/□. The mechanisms for n^＋ polysilicon ohmic contact to n-type SiC are discussed.

Ohmic contacts for atomically-thin transition metal dichalcogenide semiconductors

Motivated by the success of graphene research,atomically-thin transition metal dichalcogenide(TMDC)semiconductors are considered as promising field-effect transistor(FET)channel materials for fundamental research and potential applications.Bridging atomically-thin TMDC channels to external circuitry using metallic leads is one of the most critical steps towards high-performance devices and cutting-edge materials physics research.

Ohmic Contacts to n-Type Al_(0.6)Ga_(0.4)N for Solar-Blind Detectors

We investigate the contact characteristics of bi-layer thin films, Ti（20nm）/Al（200nm） on Si-doped n-type A10.6 Ga0.4 N films grown on sapphire substrate. The surface treatment was aqua regia boiling before metallization and annealing after metallization at different conditions in N2 ambient. High resolution X-ray diffractometery analysis was carried out on the contacts and the surface interfaces of these conditions were compared. A specific contact resistivity pc was determined using the circular transmission line method via current-voltage measurements. A pc of 3.42 × 10^-4 Ω·cm^2 was achieved when annealed at 670℃ for 90s. Then, this ideal ohmic contact was used in back-illuminated solar-blind AlGaN p- i-n detectors and the detectors＇ performances, such as spectral responsivity, dark-current,and breakdown voltage were optimized.

Ni/Pd-based ohmic contacts to p-GaN through p-InGaN/p^(+)-GaN contacting layers

Specific contact resistance to p-GaN was measured for various structures of Ni/Pd-based metals and thin(20-30 nm thick)p-InGaN/p^(+)-GaN contacting layers.The effects of surface chemical treatment and annealing temperature were ex-amined.The optimal annealing temperature was determined to be 550°C,above which the sheet resistance of the samples de-graded considerably,suggesting that undesirable alloying had occurred.Pd-containing metal showed~35%lower com-pared to that of single Ni.Very thin(2-3.5 nm thick)p-InGaN contacting layers grown on 20-25 nm thick p^(+)-GaN layers exhib-ited one to two orders of magnitude smaller values of compared to that of p^(+)-GaN without p-InGaN.The current density de-pendence of,which is indicative of nonlinearity in current-voltage relation,was also examined.The lowest achieved through this study was 4.9×10^(-5)Ω·cm^(2)@J=3.4 kA/cm^(2).

Characteristics of Ni-based ohmic contacts on n-type 4H-SiC using different annealing methods

Nickel is an excellent ohmic-contact metal on 4H-SiC.This paper discusses the formation mechanism of nickel ohmic contact on 4HSiC by assessing the electrical properties and microstructural change.Under high-temperature annealing,the phase of nickel-silicon compound can be observed with X-ray diffraction,and the contact resistance also changes.A comparative experiment was designed to use X-ray diffraction and energy-dispersive spectroscopy to clarify the difference of ohmic-contact material composition and elemental analysis between samples prepared using pulsed laser annealing and rapid thermal annealing.It is found that more Ni2Si and carbon vacancies formed at the interface in the sample prepared using pulsed laser annealing,resulting in a better ohmic-contact characteristic.

The fabrication of nickel silicide ohmic contacts to n-type 6H-silicon carbide

This paper reports that the nickel silicide ohmic contacts to n-type 6H-SiC have been fabricated. Transfer length method test patterns with NiSi/SiC and NiSi2/SiC structure axe formed on N-wells created by N^＋ ion implantation into Si-faced p-type 6H-SiC epilayer respectively. NiSi and NiSi2 films are prepared by annealing the Ni and Si films separately deposited. A two-step annealing technology is performed for decreasing of oxidation problems occurred during high temperature processes. The specific contact resistance Pc of NiSi contact to n-type 6H-SiC as low as 1.78× 10^-6Ωcm^2 is achieved after a two-step annealing at 350 ℃for 20 min and 950℃ for 3 min in N2. And 3.84×10-6Ωcm^2 for NiSi2 contact is achieved. The result for sheet resistance Rsh of the N＋ implanted layers is about 1210Ω/□. X-ray diffraction analysis shows the formation of nickel silicide phases at the metal/n-SiC interface after thermal annealing. The surfaces of the nickel silicide after thermal annealing are analysed by scanning electron microscope.

Ti-Al based ohmic contacts to n-type 6H-SiC with ion implantation

The Ti-Al ohmic contact to n-type 6H-SiC has been fabricated. An array of TLM （transfer length method） test patterns with Au/Ti/A1/Ti/SiC structure is formed on N-wells created by P^＋ ion implantation into Si-faced p-type 6H-SiC epilayer. The specific contact resistance pc as low as 8.64×10-6Ω·cm^2 is achieved after annealing in N2 at 900℃ for 5min. The sheet resistance Rsh of the implanted layers is 975Ω. X-ray diffraction （XRD） analysis shows the formation of Ti3SiC2 at the metal/n-SiC interface after thermal annealing, which is responsible for the low resistance contact.

Ohmic contacts of 4H-SiC on ion-implantation layers

The ohmic contacts of 4H-SiC are fabricated on nitrogen ion implanted layers made by performing box-like-profile implantation three and four times. Implantation parameters such as the standard deviation σ and the projection range Rp are calculated by the Monte Carlo simulator TRIM. Ni/Cr ohmic contacts on Si-face 4H-SiC implantation layers are measured by transfer length methods （TLMs）. The results show that the values of sheet resistance Rsh are 30 kΩ/□ and 4.9 kΩ/□ and the values of specific contact resistance Pc of ohmic contacts are 7.1 × 10^-4 Ω. cm^2 and 9.5× 10^-5Ω. cm^2 for the implanted layers with implantation performed three and four times respectively.

Structural characterization of V/Al/V/Au Ohmic contacts to n-type Al_(0.4)Ga_(0.6)N

This paper investigates the temperature dependence of the specific resistance in annealed V/Al/V/Au （15 nm/85 nm/20 nm/95 nm） contacts on n-A10.4Ga0.6N. Contacts annealed at 700 ℃ and higher temperatures show Ohmic behaviour. Annealing at 800 ℃ produces the lowest contact resistance. Samples annealed at 800 ℃have been analysed by using cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy and an energy dispersive x-ray spectrum. Limited reaction depths are observed between V-based contacts and n-AlGaN. The VN grains are found to form in the contact layer of the annealed samples, which can be considered as the key to the successful formation of Ohmic contact. The contact layer adjacent to AlGaN material consists of V Al-Au-N, AlN and AlAu alloys.

Nickel ohmic contacts of high-concentration P-implanted 4H-SiC

Different-dose phosphorus ion implantation into 4H-SiC followed by high-temperature annealing was investigated.AlN/BN and graphite post-implantation annealing for ion-implanted SiC at 1650℃for 30 min was conducted to electrically activate the implanted P~＋ ions.Ni contacts to the P~＋-implanted 4H-SiC layers were examined by transmission line model and Hall measurements fabricated on P-implanted（0001）.The results indicated that a high-quality ohmic contact and specific contact resistivity of 1.30×10^（-6）Ω·cm^2 was obtained for the P~＋-implanted 4H-SiC layers.TheρC values of the Ni-based implanted layers decreased with increasing P doping concentrations,and a weaker temperature dependence was observed for different samples in the 200-500K temperature range.

A comparison between different ohmic contacts for ZnO thin films

There are several metals that form ohmic contacts for ZnO thin films, such as copper, aluminum and silver. The aim of this work is to make a comparison between these ohmic contacts. To achieve this purpose, polycrystalline ZnO thin films were prepared by the spray pyrolysis technique, and characterized by the I-V measurements at room temperature. Two strips of each metal were thermally evaporated on the surface of the film and measurements were first recorded in the dark and room light, then in the dark before and after annealing for A1, which was found to be the best in the set. Films with aluminum contacts gave the smallest resistivity, best ohmicity and they are slightly affected by light as required. On the other hand, copper was found to be the worst, and films with copper contacts gave the largest resistivity, worst ohmicity and they are the most affected by light. Annealing improved the aluminum contacts due to alloying and doping.

Effect of annealing temperature on Ti/Al/Ni/Au ohmic contacts on undoped AlN films

The Ti/Al/Ni/Au metals were deposited on undoped AlN films by electron beam evaporation. The influence of annealing temperature on the properties of contacts was investigated. When the annealing temperatures were between 800 and 950 ℃, the AlN-Ti/Al/Ni/Au contacts became ohmic contacts and the resistance decreased with the increase of annealing temperature. A lowest specific contacts resistance of 0.379 Ω·cm^2 was obtained for the sample annealed at 950 ℃. In this work, we confirmed that the formation mechanism of ohmic contacts on Al N was due to the formation of Al-Au, Au-Ti and Al-Ni alloys, and reduction of the specific contacts resistance could originate from the formation of Au2Ti and AlAu2 alloys. This result provided a possibility for the preparation of Al N-based high-frequency, high-power devices and deep ultraviolet devices.

Interface annealing characterization of Ti/Al/Au ohmic contacts to p-type 4H-SiC

Ti/Al/Au ohmic contacts to p-type 4H-SiC in terms of a different annealing time and Ti composition are reported. At 1050 ~C, proper increase in annealing time plays a critical role in the Schottky to ohmic contact conversion. With the optimized annealing time, the contact with a high Ti content yields a lower specific contact resistivity （Pc） of 6.4 × 10^-5 Ω.cm2 compared with the low-Ti contact. The annealed surface morphology and phase resultants were examined by scanning electron microscopy （SEM） and X-ray diffraction （XRD）, respectively. For the better ohmic contact, element distribution and chemical states were qualitatively identified by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy （XPS） depth analysis. In particular, the presence of C and a Si-related phase was discussed and associated with the change in the surface status of the as-grown epilayer of 4H-SiC during annealing. The results reveal that the out-diffused C and Si atoms, with an approximate atomic ratio of 1 ： 1 in the contact layer, can combine to form an amorphous Si-C state. The polycrystalline graphite instead of an unreacted C cluster in the whole alloyed structure and an extra nanosize graphite flake on the outermost surface of the annealed contact were confirmed by Raman spectroscopy.

Ohmic and Schottky contacts of hydrogenated and oxygenated boron-doped single-crystal diamond with hill-like polycrystalline grains

Hill-like polycrystalline diamond grains(HPDGs)randomly emerged on a heavy boron-doped p+single-crystal diamond(SCD)film by prolonging the growth duration of the chemical vapor deposition process.The Raman spectral results confirm that a relatively higher boron concentration(~1.1×10^(21) cm^(-3))is detected on the HPDG with respect to the SCD region(~5.4×10^(20) cm^(-3)).It demonstrates that the Au/SCD interface can be modulated from ohmic to Schottky contact by varying the surface from hydrogen to oxygen termination.The current-voltage curve between two HPDGs is nearly linear with either oxygen or hydrogen termination,which means that the HPDGs provide a leakage path to form an ohmic contact.There are obvious rectification characteristics between oxygen-terminated HPDGs and SCD based on the difference in boron doping levels in those regions.The results reveal that the highly boron-doped HPDGs grown in SCD can be adopted as ohmic electrodes for Hall measurement and electronic devices.

Erbium germanosilicide Ohmic contacts on Si_(1-x)Ge_x(x=0-0.3) substrates

We have studied erbium germanosilicide (ErSiGe) Ohmic contacts on n-type Si_(1-x)Ge_x substrates with differing Ge concentrations (0≤x≤0.3).Thin layers of Ti (20 nm)/Er (20 nm) were deposited on Si_(1-x)Ge_x substrates and then post-annealed at 600°C for 60 s to form a stable ErSiGe film.The structures of the ErSiGe films and ErSiGe/Si_(1-x)Ge_x interfaces were characterized by Transmission Electron Microscopy measurements (TEM).The TEM images showed that the thicknesses of ErSiGe films and the Si_(1-x)Ge_x substrates were about 60 and 50 nm,respectively.The ErSiGe/Si_(1-x)Ge_x structure had a smooth interface.Moreover,no agglomeration or Ge segregation was observed.The contact resistivity of the ErSiGe/Si_(1-x)Ge_x structures was measured by the specially designed four-terminal Kelvin structures.When the Ge concentration of Si_(1-x)Ge_x substrates increased from 10% to 30%,the specific contact resistivity (c) slightly decreased from 9.0×10 7 ·cm 2 to 7.4×10 7 ·cm 2,indicating that the Ge concentration is not the main effect on the c of the ErSiGe/Si_(1-x)Ge_x Ohmic contacts.