Epitaxial growth optimization of AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistor structures on 3C-SiC/Si

Abstract

The excellent characteristics of high electron mobility transistors based on AlGaN/GaN heterostructures rely on the properties of the substrate used for their epitaxial growth. In this work, we evaluate 3C-SiC as an alternative to the commonly used 4H-SiC. Up to 2 μm thick 3C-SiC layers on Si templates have been used as substrates to develop an epitaxial growth process for high-quality AlGaN/GaN heterostructures. We demonstrate the deposition of up to 5 μm crack-free heterostructures on 2 μm thick 3C-SiC on Si by using a metalorganic chemical vapor deposition process. Several characteristics of these structures, such as crystal quality, morphology, and electrical properties, are close to what can be achieved when using 4H-SiC substrates. The results of this work motivate further development in order to obtain thicker and semi-insulating 3C-SiC layers to be used instead of the expensive and size-limited 4H-SiC substrates.

Metal‐Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition of Aluminum Yttrium Nitride

“…[30] Nevertheless, compressive strain and the choice of a proper substrate with an off-cut or with a proper nucleation layer, and the choice of the right growth temperature can help to stabilize the desired wurtzite structure, as done for other metastable semiconductor materials, such as SiC. [36][37][38][39] The growth of AlYN has been demonstrated only by two groups so far: Linköping University [29,40] and TU Wien. [22,41] In both cases, the sputtering technique was used to grow the samples at temperatures below 1000 °C, and the maximum concentration of Y in crystalline wurtzite AlYN layers was below 22% and 15%, respectively.…”

Thermal Transport of AlN/Graphene/3C-SiC Typical Heterostructures with Different Crystallinities of Graphene

“…Among several commonly used substrates, SiC substrates are increasingly used for the construction of electronic/optoelectronic devices due to their high thermal conductivity, good electrical conductivity, reliable preparation process, and cost-effectiveness. − High-power LEDs are taken as examples to illustrate the use of SiC substrates. The lower lattice mismatch between SiC and GaN and the high thermal conductivity of SiC make it a suitable substrate for GaN-based blue LEDs due to the lack of a natural GaN direct substrate.…”

Influence of a thick nitride layer on transmission loss in GaN-on-3C-SiC/low resistivity Si

“…The GaN-based devices offer excellent superiority in highpower and high-frequency technologies because of their capability to deliver high power densities at both microwave and millimeter-wave (mmW) frequencies along with high electron saturation velocities [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]. For GaN-based RF power devices, SiC is usually preferable owing to high thermal conductivity, high electrical resistivity, and very low mismatch to GaN [12][13][14][15].…”