Deposition and Electrical, Chemical and Microstructural Characterization of the Interface Formed between Pt, Au and Ag Rectifying Contacts and Cleaned n-type GaN (0001) Surfaces.

Abstract

The characteristics of clean n-type GaN surfaces and the interface between this surface and Pt, Au and Ag, have been investigated. Gallium-terminated (0001) surfaces of GaN, free of carbon and oxygen within the detection limits of XPS have been achieved by annealing in ammonia at 860°C for 15 minutes. Additional, in-situ surface analysis indicated a flat, stoichometric, and unreconstructed surface free of other contaminants. The electron affinity of this surface was 3.1 ± 0.2 eV. The valence band maximum was located 3.0 ± 0.1 eV below the Fermi level, indicating the presence of a surface state near the valence band maximum. Individual layers of Pt, Au or Ag were deposited in-situ on the cleaned surface and the interfaces characterized using XPS, UPS, LEED and TEM. All as-deposited metal/GaN interfaces were abrupt and unreacted; the Pt and Au were deposited epitaxially. The Schottky barrier heights obtained from photoemission measurements were 1.2, 0.9 and 0.5 ± 0.2 eV for Pt, Au and Ag, respectively. Values of the metal work function from UPS results were 5.7, 5.3 and 4.4 ± 0.2 eV for Pt, Au and Ag, respectively. Schottky barrier heights determined via ex-situ current-voltage measurements were 1.15, 0.88 and 0.56 ± 0.05 eV for Pt, Au and Ag, respectively. Capacitance-voltage measurements yielded barrier heights of 1.25 and 0.96 ± 0.05 eV, for Pt and Au, respectively. These results indicate that the Fermi level of the cleaned surface is not pinned. Upon annealing the aforementioned contacts from 400 to 800°C for 3 minutes each. The rectifying behavior of the Pt and Au contacts degraded as a function of temperature during annealing at 400, 600 and 800°C for 3 minutes each until they became ohmic. This was correlated with TEM of the annealed interfaces, which displayed increased chemical reaction and roughening as a function of temperature.