Thermal stability of an InAlN/GaN heterostructure grown on silicon by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition

Abstract

The thermal stabilities of metal-organic chemical vapor deposition-grown lattice-matched InAlN/GaN/Si heterostructures have been reported by using slower and faster growth rates for the InAlN barrier layer in particular. The temperature-dependent surface and two-dimensional electron gas (2-DEG) properties of these heterostructures were investigated by means of atomic force microscopy, photoluminescence excitation spectroscopy, and electrical characterization. Even at the annealing temperature of 850 °C, the InAlN layer grown with a slower growth rate exhibited a smooth surface morphology that resulted in excellent 2-DEG properties for the InAlN/GaN heterostructure. As a result, maximum values for the drain current density (IDS,max) and transconductance (gm,max) of 1.5 A/mm and 346 mS/mm, respectively, were achieved for the high-electron-mobility transistor (HEMT) fabricated on this heterostructure. The InAlN layer grown with a faster growth rate, however, exhibited degradation of the surface morphology at an annealing temperature of 850 °C, which caused compositional in-homogeneities and impacted the 2-DEG properties of the InAlN/GaN heterostructure. Additionally, an HEMT fabricated on this heterostructure yielded lower IDS,max and gm,max values of 1 A/mm and 210 mS/mm, respectively.