Hydrogen Passivation and Reactivation of DX Centers in Se-Doped and Si-Doped AlGaAs - - A Comparison

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe effect of hydrogenation on DX centers was evaluated for both Si- and Se-doped AlxGa1-xAs (x=0.26 and 0.23). MBE-grown AIGaAs:Si and MOCVD-grown AIGaAs:Se epilayers were hydrogenated with either monatomic hydrogen or deuterium from a remote plasma at 250°C for 1h. The passivation and subsequent reactivation kinetics were studied with C-V and DLTS techniques. Reactivation was investigated in the space-charge layer of Schottky diodes under different bias conditions. While the Group VI and Group IV deep donors respond similarly to passivation, they display significantly different reactivation kinetics, with thermal dissociation energies of 1.5 eV and 1.2 eV for Se-H and Si-H, respectively. These values are close to the energies previously determined for reactivation of the Si and Se shallow donors in both AIGaAs and GaAs. Therefore, they are not significantly dependent on the Al concentration (x < 0.30) even for donors residing on the As sublattice. Our results are consistent with the Chang-Chadi model of DX centers.