Enhancing β-Ga2O3 Schottky Barrier Diodes' Performance Through Low-Temperature Post-Annealing: Achieving Optimal Forward Current-Voltage Characteristics

• Published in: IEEE transactions on electron devices Vol. 71; no. 9; pp. 5552 - 5558
• Main Authors: Yu, Chunxiao, Hu, Haodong, Wang, Yibo, Jia, Xiaole, Huang, Shuqi, Luo, Zhengdong, Li, Bochang, Fang, Cizhe, Li, Xiaoxi, Liu, Yan, Hao, Yue, Han, Genquan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 01.09.2024
• Subjects: Annealing; Etching; ideality factor; Performance evaluation; post-annealing; power semiconductor devices; Schottky barrier diode (SBD); Schottky barriers; Schottky diodes; Semiconductor device measurement; semiconductor-metal interfaces; Temperature; β-gallium oxide (β-Ga₂O
• ISSN: 0018-9383
• DOI: 10.1109/TED.2024.3413029

In this article, we present a low-temperature post-annealing (LTPA) technique to achieve ideal forward current-voltage (I−V) characteristics for <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">\boldsymbol {\beta } </tex-math></inline-formula>-gallium oxide (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">\boldsymbol {\beta } </tex-math></inline-formula>-Ga2O3) Schottky barrier diodes (SBDs). The Ni/Au//<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">\boldsymbol {\beta } </tex-math></inline-formula>-Ga2O3 SBD underwent LTPA at 350 °C, achieving an ideal n factor of 1.00 and an average SS of 61 mV/decade as forward current varying in the four orders of magnitude range. This improvement is attributed to the compensation of the interface donor-like states through the LTPA process, leading to a significant decrease in the interface state density (Nss). In addition, the <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">\boldsymbol {\beta } </tex-math></inline-formula>-Ga2O3 SBD with LTPA exhibited an enhancement in breakdown voltage (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">{V}_{\text {br}} </tex-math></inline-formula>) compared to the control device (without LTPA) due to the improved interface quality. Overall, these findings demonstrate the potential of LTPA as a promising technique for engineering the Schottky interface of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">\boldsymbol {\beta } </tex-math></inline-formula>-Ga2O3 SBDs.