Interfacial Arsenic from Wet Oxidation of AlxGa1-xAs/GaAs: Its Effects on Electronic Properties and New Approaches to Mis Device Fabrication

Abstract

AbstractThree important oxidation regimes have been identified in the temporal evolution of the wet thermal oxidation of AlxGa1-xAs (1 ≥ x ≥ 0.90) on GaAs: 1) oxidation of Al and Ga in the AlxGa1-xAs alloy to form an amorphous oxide layer, 2) oxidative formation and elimination of elemental As (both crystalline and amorphous) and of amorphous As2O3, and 3) crystallization of the oxide film. Residual As can result in up to a 100-fold increase in leakage current and a 30% increase in the dielectric constant and produce strong Fermi-level pinning and high leakage currents at the oxidized AlxGa1-xAs/GaAs interface. The presence of thermodynamically-favored interfacial As may impose a fundamental limitation on the application of AlGaAs wet oxidation for achieving MIS devices in the GaAs material system.