Sputtered AlN encapsulant for high-temperature annealing of GaN

Abstract

Reactively sputtered AlN is shown by electrical characterization of Pt/Au Schottky diodes to be an effect encapsulant for GaN annealed at 1100 °C. Schottky diodes formed on GaN encapsulated with AlN during the anneal had low reverse leakage currents with breakdown voltages in excess of 40 V. In contrast, samples annealed without the AlN layer had 3–4 orders-of-magnitude higher reverse leakage currents. Atomic force microscopy images of as-grown and annealed samples also demonstrate an increase in surface roughness and a change in morphology of the uncapped samples following annealing. Auger electron spectroscopy supports the hypothesis that the AlN encapsulant is reducing N loss from the GaN substrate. N loss in the uncapped samples is expected to create an n+-region at the surface that accounts for the high reverse leakage current and improved Ohmic behavior for the uncapped samples. The use of AlN encapsulation will enable the realization of all ion implanted GaN metal semiconductor field effect transistors.