Low D/sub it/, thermodynamically stable Ga/sub 2/O/sub 3/-GaAs interfaces: fabrication, characterization, and modeling

Abstract

Thermodynamically stable, low D/sub it/ amorphous Ga/sub 2/O/sub 3/-(100) GaAs interfaces have been fabricated by extending molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) related techniques. We have investigated both in situ and ex situ Ga/sub 2/O/sub 3/ deposition schemes utilizing molecular beams of gallium oxide. The in situ technique employs Ga/sub 2/O/sub 3/ deposition on freshly grown, atomically ordered (100) GaAs epitaxial films in ultrahigh vacuum (UHV); the ex situ approach is based on thermal desorption of native GaAs oxides in UHV prior to Ga/sub 2/O/sub 3/ deposition. Unique electronic interface properties have been demonstrated for in situ fabricated Ga/sub 2/O/sub 3/-GaAs interfaces including a midgap interface state density D/sub it/ in the low 10/sup 10/ cm/sup -2/ eV/sup -1/ range and an interface recombination velocity S of 4000 cm/s. The existence of strong inversion in both n- and p-type GaAs has been clearly established. We will also discuss the excellent thermodynamic and photochemical interface stability. Ex situ fabricated Ga/sub 2/O/sub 3/-GaAs interfaces are inferior but still of a high quality with S=9000 cm/s and a corresponding D/sub it/ in the upper 10/sup 10/ cm/sup -2/ eV/sup -1/ range. We also developed a new numerical heterostructure model for the evaluation of capacitance-voltage (C-V), conductance-voltage (G-V), and photoluminescence (PL) data. The model involves selfconsistent interface analysis of electrical and optoelectronic measurement data and is tailored to the specifics of GaAs such as band-to-band luminescence and long minority carrier response time /spl tau//sub R/. We will further discuss equivalent circuits in strong inversion considering minority carrier generation using low-intensity light illumination.