Surface treatment on the growth surface of semi‐insulating GaN bulk substrate for III‐nitride heterostructure field‐effect transistors

Abstract

AbstractAl0.25Ga0.75N/GaN heterostructure field‐effect transistor (HFET) structures are grown on semi‐insulating GaN substrates by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition with Fe‐doped GaN buffer layer and various surface treatments prior to the epitaxial growth of the structure. The surface treatments are intended to remove suspected surface‐charge‐containing layer and they include wet chemical etching, in‐situ thermal etching, plasma dry etching, and photo‐enhanced chemical etching. Photo‐enhanced chemical (PEC) etching was effective in achieving microscopically smooth surface and in eliminating surface charge layer on the surface of semi‐insulating GaN substrates. RMS surface roughness of PEC etched surface of the semi‐insulating GaN substrate is 0.1∼0.2 nm for 1×1 μm2 scan. C ‐V measurement shows well‐defined 2‐dimensional‐gas‐related charge without any growth‐interface‐related charge for a HFET grown on a semi‐insulating GaN substrate with optimized photo‐enhanced chemical etching of the surface. (© 2008 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)