Pd/InAlN Schottky diode with low reverse current by sulfide treatment

Abstract

The authors report the effect of sulfide treatment on electrical characteristic of Pd/InAlN Schottky diode. Quantitative analysis considering different current-transport mechanisms revealed that the sulfide treatment not only significantly reduced leakage current but also almost completely suppressed a tunneling current between InAlN surface and Pd contact, which could be attributed to the surface passivation of InAlN with forming S-N and S-O bonds as revealed by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements. As a result of the treatment, the reverse-biased current was reduced significantly by more than one order of magnitude at −5 V to be as low as 3.95 × 10−8 A/cm2, and by more than two orders of magnitude at −10 V to be 1.27 × 10−7 A/cm2, corresponding to the record-low values reported to date.