Cathodoluminescence Spectroscopy Studies of Aluminum Gallium Nitride and Silicon Device Structures As a Function of Irradiation and Processing
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CATHODOLUMINESCENCE SPECTROSCOPY STUDIES OF ALUMINUM GALLIUM NITRIDE AND SILICON DEVICE STRUCTURES AS A FUNCTION OF IRRADIATION AND PROCESSING DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Brad Derek White, B.S., M.S. ****************** The Ohio State University 2006 Dissertation Committee: Approved by Dr. Leonard J. Brillson, Adviser Dr. Wu Lu ___________________________________ Dr. Betty Lise Anderson Adviser Graduate Program in Electrical Engineering ABSTRACT Electronic device performance is critically dependent on the presence of deep-level and shallow states in the electronic band gap. A uniform or localized distribution of defects throughout a device structure can adversely affect doping and carrier transport, and result in changes to device saturation current, threshold voltage, ohmic contact resistivity, and Schottky barrier properties, including leakage currents. Process-induced atomic intermixing effects at heterostructure interfaces can cause decreases in sheet density and mobility of channel layers. For the presence of all such effects, the spatial variation across a given wafer can result in significant variation in device performance depending on spatial position. Spatially-resolved cathodoluminescence spectroscopy (CLS) has been used to identify the presence of radiative point and extended defects in the semiconductor band gap produced by irradiation and processing conditions for Si and GaN-based devices. Changes in deep level emission in Al-SiO2-Si capacitor structures revealed a gradient in relative defect concentrations across the SiO2 film after x-ray irradiation, indicating interface-specific defect creation. CLS measurements also revealed changes in the near-band edge signatures of AlGaN-GaN high-electron mobility transistor (HEMT) structures subjected to 1.8 MeV proton irradiation. These changes were indicative of alloying of AlGaN and GaN at the charge confinement interface and relaxation of piezoelectric strain in the AlGaN film. Alloying was investigated with secondary-ion mass spectrometry, which confirmed a broadened interface after a high ii fluence of proton irradiation. Both mechanisms contributed to the measured degradation in HEMT channel transport properties. Ni-GaN Schottky barrier height decreases and ideality factor increases were observed at lower fluences than the degradation in HEMT channel figures. Additionally, 1.0 MeV protons resulted in ~1.5 times higher damage than 1.8 MeV protons, which was shown to be consistent with simulations of total non- ionizing energy loss for the two energies. The properties of Schottky contacts on AlGaN were also investigated for xAl~0.4 versus pre-deposition surface cleaning procedure. Two inductively-coupled plasma reactive-ion etching (ICP-RIE) procedures were compared with a standard HCl etching routine. The ICP-RIE treated samples exhibited higher uniformity than the HCl surface, as characterized by electrical and CLS measurements. The presence of a spectral emission at ~4.08 eV in the HCl-etched piece correlated with the presence of a secondary Schottky barrier at ~1 eV. The emergence of a second spectral peak at ~4.05 eV after ICP treatment also resulted in pinned barriers near 1 eV. The addition of a pre-metallization rapid-thermal annealing process after the ICP-RIE treatment results in the disappearance of both peaks, and correlated with the best diode properties in terms of ideality factors and dependence on metal workfunction. The degree of surface pinning from interface states, inferred from plots of extracted barrier height versus metal workfunction, was characterized for all processing conditions. Estimated interface state density was reduced by an order of magnitude for the rapid- thermal anneal process. Lastly, temperature dependent CLS data was used to assign physical origins to the defects that control the Schottky barrier properties, including leakage currents. Nitrogen vacancies in the AlGaN are the most probable assignment for one, or both, peaks, with the presence of screw dislocations suggested by the data. iii Dedicated to my parents, Harold and Marla White. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This work would not have been possible without the guidance, facilities, financial support, and academic and industrial contacts of my advisor, Dr. Leonard Brillson. His enthusiasm for my results was always an encouragement. Former and current group members Shawn Bradley, Gregg Jessen, Dennis Walker, Jr., and Min Gao are also acknowledged for useful discussions and invaluable technique and equipment knowledge. Gregg and his present group at Wright Patterson AFB, Sensors Directorate, have been most helpful for my project (as well as the projects of several other group members). At OSU, Dr. Steve Ringel’s group was very helpful for the Hall measurement and x-ray diffraction work, among other techniques. In particular, Andy Armstrong, Aaron Arehart, and Yong Lin are acknowledged. Mr. Jim Jones, Dept. of Elec. Eng., was also helpful countless times for a wide variety of experimental and facilities issues. Drs. Ron Schrimpf and Dan Fleetwood and their student Aditya Karmarkar at Vanderbilt University were outstanding collaborators for the irradiation effects work. For these studies, Dr. Umesh Mishra’s group at UC-Santa Barbara and Dr. Bill Schaff at Cornell provided excellent nitride samples. For the Schottky barrier on AlGaN work, Dr. Amir Dabiran at SVT Associates, Even Prairie, MN, did me an enormous favor by growing a custom wafer structure. His efforts are greatly appreciated. v VITA April 6, 1975………..……………………………………..…Born—Sellersville, PA USA 1997………………………………………………..……………………….. B.S. Physics, University of Missouri—Rolla 2002………………………………………………………………………… M.S. Physics, The Ohio State University 2000-2006……………………………………………...….. Graduate Research Associate, The Ohio State University 1999-2000………………………………………………..Physics Department Fellowship, The Ohio State University 1998-1999…………………………………………………….…………Process Engineer, Intevac, Inc., Santa Clara, CA PUBLICATIONS Research Publications 1. Karmarkar, A.P., White, B.D., Fleetwood, D.M., Schrimpf, R.D., Weller, R.A., Brillson, L.J., and Mishra, U.K., “Proton-Induced Damage in Gallium Nitride-Based Schottky Diodes”, IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci. 52 (6): 2239-2244, 2005. 2. Mosbacker, H.L., Strzhemechny, Y.M., White, B.D., Smith, P.E., Look, D.C., Reynolds, D.C., Litton, C.W., and Brillson, L.J., “Role of near-surface states in ohmic- Schottky conversion of Au contacts to ZnO”, Appl. Phys. Lett. 87 (1): 012102, 2005. 3. Karmarkar, A.P., Jun, B.G., Fleetwood, D.A., Schrimpf, R.D., Weller, R.A., White, B.D., Brillson, L.J., and Mishra, U.K. “Proton irradiation effects on GaN-based high electron-mobility transistors with Si-doped AlxGa1-xN and thick GaN cap layers”, IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci. 51 (6): 3801-3806, 2004. vi 4. Hu, X.W., Karmarkar, A.P., Jun, B., Fleetwood, D.M., Schrimpf, R.D., Geil, R.D., Weller, R.A., White, B.D., Bataiev, M., Brillson, L.J., and Mishra, U.K., “Proton- irradiation effects on AlGaN/AlN/GaN high electron mobility transistors”, IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci. 50 (6): 1791-1796, 2003. 5. White, B.D., Bataiev, M., Goss, S.H., Hu, X., Karmarkar, A., Fleetwood, D.M., Schrimpf, R.D., Schaff, W.J., and Brillson, L.J., “Electrical, spectral, and chemical properties of 1.8 MeV proton irradiated AlGaN/GaN HEMT structures as a function of proton fluence”, IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci. 50 (6): 1934-1941, 2003. 6. Koide, Y., Walker, D.E., White, B.D., Brillson, L.J., Itoh, T., McCreery, R.L., Murakami, M., Kamiyama, S., Amano, H., and Akasaki, I., “Influence of oxygen on luminescence and vibrational spectra of Mg-doped GaN”, Phys. Stat. Solidi B 240 (2): 356-359, 2003. 7. Jessen, G.H., Fitch, R.C., Gillespie, J.K., Via, G.D., White, B.D., Bradley, S.T., Walker, D.E., and Brillson, L.J., “Effects of deep-level defects on ohmic contact and frequency performance of AlGaN/GaN high-electron-mobility transistors”, Appl. Phys. Lett. 83 (3): 485-487, 2003. 8. White, B.D., Bataiev, M., Brillson, L.J., Choi, B.K., Fleetwood, D.M., Schrimpf, R.D., Pantelides, S.T., Dettmer, R.W., Schaff, W.J., Champlain, J.G., and Mishra, U.K., “Characterization of 1.8-MeV proton-irradiated AlGaN/GaN field-effect transistor structures by nanoscale depth-resolved luminescence spectroscopy”, IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci. 49 (6): 2695-2701, 2002. 9. White, B.D., Brillson, L.J., Bataiev, M., Brillson, L.J., Fleetwood, D.M., Schrimpf, R.D., Choi, B.K., Fleetwood, D.M., and Pantelides, S.T., “Detection of trap activation by ionizing radiation in SiO2 by spatially localized cathodoluminescence spectroscopy”, Jour. Appl. Phys. 92 (10): 5729-5734, 2002. 10. Koide, Y., Walker, D.E., White, B.D., Brillson, L.J., Murakami, M., Kamiyama, S., Amano, H., and Akasaki, -I., “Simultaneous observation of luminescence and dissociation processes of Mg-H complex for Mg-doped GaN”, Jour. Appl. Phys. 92 (7): 3657-3661, 2002. 11. Jessen, G.H., White, B.D., Bradley, S.T., Smith, P.E., Brillson, L.J., Van Nostrand, J.E., Fitch, R., Via, G.D., Gillespie, J.K., Dettmer, R.W., and Sewell, J.S., “Ohmic contact characterization of AlGaN/GaN device layers with spatially localized LEEN spectroscopy”, Sol.-Stat. Elec. 46 (9): 1427-1431, 2000. vii 12. White, B.D., Brillson, L.J., Lee, S.C., Fleetwood, D.M., Schrimpf, R.D., Pantelides, S.T., Lee, Y.M., and Lucovsky, G., “Low energy electron-excited nanoscale luminescence: A tool to detect trap activation by ionizing radiation”, IEEE Trans.