The analysis of phosphorus release from Au/InP contacts heat treated at temperature from the range 360-480°C showed that P evaporation accompanies any stage of contact reaction. The use of encapsulating layer during contact annealing suppresses the loss of phosphorus and changes the kinetics of thermally activated interfacial reaction.
General behavior of In/GaAs couple heat-treated at 570°C for 2 hours was studied with secondary-ion-mass spectrometry, scanning electron microscopy, Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy and Nomarski microscopy. It is shown that, besides the well-known InGaAs crystallites which epitaxially grow upon dissolution of the substrate, In interacts with the substrate dislocations to form In(Ga)As dendrites. The driving force for this process is presumably excess arsenic reported to be present in the vicinity of the individual dislocations.
The X-ray standing wave and Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy in channelling geometry were applied for the investigation of the structure of silicon single crystals implanted with 80 keV Fe ions. Both methods were used for the determination of crystal damage and lattice location of implanted metal atoms before and after thermal annealing. Both methods gave consistent results regarding the amorphization of Si due to the Fe-ion implantation. Moreover, using both methods some Fe substitution fraction was determined. The depth profiles of implanted atoms were compared to the results of computer simulations. Complementary use of X-ray standing wave and Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy channelling techniques for studies of radiation damage and lattice location of implanted atoms is discussed.
Very thin Au(Zn) contacts to p-GaAs were studied by means of transmission electron microscopy and secondary ion mass spectrometry. It was found that such contacts when cap annealed became ohmic, even though the reaction between the metallization and GaAs is confined to a very close vicinity of the interface.
Reactively sputtered TiN films were evaluated as annealing cap improving the formation of Au(Zn) ohmic contact and as antidiffusion barrier protecting contact metallization and underlying GaAs against reaction with Au overlayers.
Low resistance (Au)GeNi ohmic contacts to n-GaAs with smooth morphology and restricted penetration into the substrate have been fabricated. Rapid thermally nitrided tungsten has been demonstrated to be an effective capping layer during the contact processing.
Ni/Si-based contact schemes based on the solid-phase regrowth process have been developed to form low-resistance ohmic contacts to GaN with a minimum contact resistivity of 1×10^{-3} Ωcm^{2} and ≈1×10^{-2} Ωcm^{2} to GaN:Si (n ≈ 2×10^{17} cm^{-3}) and GaN:Mg (p ≈ 3×10^{17} cm^{-3}). The solid-phase regrowth process responsible for the ohmic contact formation was studied using X-ray diffraction, secondary ion mass spectrometry and Rutherford backscattering spectrometry.
Interfacial reactions between GaSb and Au were studied by Rutherford backscattering, X-ray diffraction, and cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy. Evaluation of the extent to which the GaSb substrate decomposes was of primary concern. The results give evidence that the reaction takes place even at temperatures as low as 180°C. High reactivity of gold towards GaSb revealed by this study demonstrates that Au-based metallization is not a good candidate for device quality ohmic contacts to GaSb-based devices.
GaN layers grown on ceramics, sapphire or SiC substrates using reactive ion plating method are presented. In reactive ion plating method gallium from a hot source reacts on a heated substrate with nitrogen partially ionized. Rutherford backscattering technique was applied to check the composition of the samples and gallium to nitrogen ratio was found to be close to one. However, Rutherford backscattering studies showed also a remarkable amount of unintentional impurities present in the layers. The structure of GaN was determined using reflection high-energy electron diffraction. It appeared that polycrystal and monocrystal can be grown, depending on growth conditions. Absorption spectra taken on the layers grown on sapphire showed a tail of band to band absorption starting at about 370 nm. Carrier concentration was of the order of 1019-1020 cm^{-3} at room temperature and did not change much with temperature decrease. No luminescence from the layers was detected, most probably due to high concentration of impurities.
The interaction between CdTe and In during the formation of an ohmic contact has been investigated. Emphasis is placed on the study of the effect of thermally induced sublimation of cadmium on electrical properties of contacts. Presented results prove the effectiveness of cap annealing and rapid thermal processing in fabrication of improved ohmic contacts with limited Cd losses during the contacting procedure.
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