Publications

Ohmic contacts to Al-rich AlGaN heterostructures

Douglas, Erica A.; Reza, Shahed R.; Sanchez, C.; Koleske, Daniel K.; Allerman, A.A.; Klein, B.; Armstrong, Andrew A.; Kaplar, Robert K.; Baca, A.G.

Due to the ultra-wide bandgap of Al-rich AlGaN, up to 5.8 eV for the structures in this study, obtaining low resistance ohmic contacts is inherently difficult to achieve. A comparative study of three different fabrication schemes is presented for obtaining ohmic contacts to an Al-rich AlGaN channel. Schottky-like behavior was observed for several different planar metallization stacks (and anneal temperatures), in addition to a dry-etch recess metallization contact scheme on Al0.85Ga0.15N/Al0.66Ga0.34N. However, a dry etch recess followed by n+-GaN regrowth fabrication process is reported as a means to obtain lower contact resistivity ohmic contacts on a Al0.85Ga0.15N/Al0.66Ga0.34N heterostructure. Specific contact resistivity of 5 × 10−3 Ω cm2 was achieved after annealing Ti/Al/Ni/Au metallization.