(Invited) Advancements in Vertical GaN p-n Junction Structures Via p-Type Ion Implantation

Abstract

Vertical GaN power devices have emerged to become promising candidates for next-generation high power applications due to superior material properties such as high breakdown voltage, low on-resistance, and high mobility compared to devices based on Si and SiC. GaN-based p-n junction switching devices enable higher voltage power with significantly higher efficiencies with added advantages of reduced size and weight systems. A technological limitation of GaN, however, has been the inability to achieve high p-type doping in a planar, vertical device. Here, we will focus on recent developments to achieve high p-type efficiency though ion implantation, novel high temperature annealing schemes, and the importance of defects and morphology in native substrates and epitaxial layersGaN epitaxial layers for subsequent p-type ion implantation can be grown on sapphire substrates but vertical devices are optimal when using GaN homoepitaxial structures. Unlike most other semiconductor substrates, GaN substrates are not grown from the melt. Hydride vapor phase epitaxy or ammonothermal growth are predominantly used to produce substrates and these substrates will experience higher temperatures during subsequent epitaxy and ion implant activation annealing than occurs during substrate formation. In both types of substrates, the threading dislocation distribution can vary by orders of magnitude – these variations correlate well with leakage currents in vertical devices.The activation of the implanted p-type dopants requires high temperature annealing. For most semiconductors, an annealing temperature of ~ 2/3 the melting point leads to a high activation fraction (> 95%) of the implanted species. The implantation process introduces large concentrations of native defects as well as the p-type implant (typically Mg), so it is necessary to remove the defects and for the dopants to locate on substitutional sites (Ga sites for Mg). We demonstrate how the formation of inverted domain defects at temperatures below 1400 °C correlate with Mg-compound formation, whereas annealing temperatures 1400 °C and above do not lead to the formation of such compounds but rather high Mg activation efficiencies.These recent developments, partly through the ARPA-E PNDIODES program as well as international efforts, have brought understanding of the key processing steps and substrate requirements to achieve high activation efficiency p-type doping for planar, vertical device structures in a scalable framework.