The Electronic Properties of Epitaxial Calcium Fluoride-Silicon Structures

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe characterization of electronic devices using epitaxial CaF2 on Si is described. In addition, the growth and annealing techniques used to obtain high quality epitaxial films are discussed. In particular, the results of using rapid thermal annealing to improve the epitaxial quality of CaF2 films are presented in detail.The electronic and electrical properties of these structures are very promising. Epitaxial CaF2 films with breakdown fields as high as 3 × 106 V/cm and interface trap densities as low as 7 × 1010cm-2eV-1 have been fabricated. In addition, minority carrier dominated trapping has been observed at the CaF2 /Si interface. Finally, the material properties of these structures, as determined by Rutherford backscattering, channeling, and electron microscopy, are discussed and correlated with their electronic properties.