A tantalum diffusion barrier layer for improving the output performance of AlGaInP-based light-emitting diodes

Abstract

We have investigated the effect of a Ta diffusion barrier layer on the electrical characteristics of AuBe/Au contacts on a p-GaP window layer for AlGaInP-based light-emitting diodes (LEDs). It was shown that after annealing at 500 °C, the AuBe/Ta/Au contacts exhibited nearly 2 orders of magnitude lower specific contact resistance (2.8 × 10−6 Ω·cm2) than the AuBe/Au contacts (1.0 × 10−4 Ω·cm2). The LEDs with and without the Ta diffusion barrier layer showed an external quantum efficiency of 14.03 and 13.5% at 50 mA, respectively. After annealing at 500 °C, the AuBe/Ta/Au contacts showed a higher reflectance (92.8% at 617 nm) than that of the AuBe/Au contacts (87.7%). X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS) results showed that the Ga 2p core level for the annealed AuBe/Au samples shifted to higher binding energies, while this level shifted towards lower binding energies for the AuBe/Ta/Au samples. Depth profiles using Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) showed that annealing of the AuBe/Au samples caused the outdiffusion of both Be and P atoms into the metal contact, while for the AuBe/Ta/Au samples, the outdiffusion of Be atoms was blocked by the Ta barrier layer and more Be atoms were indiffused into GaP. The annealing-induced electrical degradation and ohmic contact formation are described and discussed based on the XPS and electrical results.