High-temperature structural behavior of Ni/Au Contact on GaN(0001)


Chong Cook Kim, Jong Kyu Kim, Jong-Lam Lee, Jung Ho Je
Pohang University of Science and Technology

Min-Su Yi, Do Young Noh
Kwangju Institute of Science and Technology

Y. Hwu
Institute of Physics, Academia Sinica

P. Ruterana
Laboratoire d'etude et de recherche sur les materiaux, CNRS

This article was received on Friday, January 19, 2001 and accepted on Thursday, February 15, 2001.

Abstract

We investigated the structural evolution of the Ni/Au contact on GaN(000l) during annealing in N2, using in-situ x-ray diffraction, anomalous x-ray scattering, and high resolution electron microscopy. GaN decomposition occurred mostly along GaN dislocations at temperature higher than 500°C. The decomposed Ga diffused into Au and Ni substitutional positions, and the decomposed nitrogen reacted with Ni, forming Ni4N. Interestingly, Ni4N was grown epitaxially. The epitaxial relationship of the Ni4N, Au, and Ni was identified as M(111)//GaN(0002) and M[1 -1 0]//GaN[1 1 -2 0] (M= Ni4N, Au, and Ni). At dislocation free regions, however, the atomically smooth interface remained intact up to 700 °C. Remarkable improvement of device reliability is expected in the contact on dislocation free regions compared with the contact on dislocations.

Outline

  • Introduction
  • Experimental details
  • Results
  • Conclusions
  • Acknowledgments

    • Linked Pages

    Cite this article as: MRS Internet J. Nitride Semicond. Res. 6, 4(2001).

    last updated Thursday, February 15, 2001 6:37:47 PM.

    © 2001 The Materials Research Society MRS Internet Journal of Nitride Semiconductor Research