For the determination of specific contact resistance in semiconductor devices, it is usually assumed that the sheet resistance under the contact is identical to that between the contacts. This generally does not hold for contacts to AlGaN/GaN structures, where an effective doping under the contact is thought to come from reactions between the contact metals and the AlGaN/GaN. As a consequence, conventional extraction of the specific contact resistance and transfer length leads to erroneous results. In this Letter, the sheet resistance under gold-free Ti/Al-based Ohmic contacts to AlGaN/GaN heterostructures on Si substrates has been investigated by means of electrical measurements, transmission electron microscopy, and technology computer-aided design simulations. It was found to be significantly lower than that outside of the contact area; temperature-dependent electrical characterization showed that it exhibits semiconductor-like behavior. The increase in conduction is attributed to n-type activity of nitrogen vacancies in the AlGaN. They are thought to form during rapid thermal annealing of the metal stack when Ti extracts nitrogen from the underlying semiconductor. The high n-type doping in the region between the metal and the 2-dimensional electron gas pulls the conduction band towards the Fermi level and enhances horizontal electron transport in the AlGaN. Using this improved understanding of the properties of the material underneath the contact, accurate values of transfer length and specific contact resistance have been extracted.

In this work the choice of appropriate test structures and characterization methods for recessed Ohmic contacts to AIGaN/GaN is discussed. It is shown that, in the worst case scenario, the prevailing assumption of identical sheet resistance between and under the contacts can lead to errors of up to 3000 % in the extracted specific contact resistance.

In this paper, we have investigated Ni-based AlGaN/GaN Schottky diodes comprising capping layers with silicon-technology-compatible metals such as TiN, TiW, TiWN, and combinations thereof. The observed change in Schottky barrier height of a Ni and Ni/TiW/TiWN/TiW contact can be explained by stress effects induced by the TiW/TiWN/TiW capping layer, rather than by chemical reactions at the metal-semiconductor interface. Secondary-ion mass spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy techniques, for samples with and without a TiW/TiWN/TiW cap, have been used to show that no chemical reactions take place. In addition, electrical characterization of dedicated samples revealed that the barrier height of Ni/ TiW/TiWN/TiW contacts increases after stepwise selective removal of the TiW/TiWN/TiW cap, thus demonstrating the impact of strain.

Abstract:This paper presents the methods of fabricating narrow parallel submicrometric stripes in silicon dioxide and a resist layer. The experiments were conducted by two techniques: double patterning lithography and double exposure lithography. In addition to the above mentioned processes, mask translation was applied. For all conducted experiments, chrome masks and a 405 nm line of the high pressure mercury lamp of an MA-56 Mask Aligner System were used. The main aim of the performed tests was to establish the utility and the possible applications of the methods used. PACS

(chairman and secretary) prof. dr. D. J. Gravesteijn University of Twente (promoter) prof. dr. ir. R. A. M. Wolters University of Twente prof. dr. ir.