Effect of Nitridation on the Regrowth Interface of AlGaN/GaN Structures Grown by Molecular Beam Epitaxy on GaN Templates

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AlGaN/GaN structures were regrown on GaN templates using plasma- assisted molecular beam epitaxy (PA-MBE). Prior to the regrowth, nitridation was performed using nitrogen plasma in the MBE chamber for different durations (0 min to 30 min). Direct-current measurements on high-electron-mobility transistor devices showed that good pinch-off characteristics and good interdevice isolation were achieved for samples prepared with a 30-min nitridation process. Current–voltage measurements on Schottky barrier diodes also revealed that, for samples prepared without nitridation, the reverse-bias gate leakage current was approximately two orders of magnitudes larger than that of samples prepared with a 30-min nitridation process. The improvement in the electrical properties is a result of contaminant removal at the regrowth interface which may be induced by the etching effect of nitridation.