Defect suppression in wet-treated etched-and-regrown nonpolar m-plane GaN vertical Schottky diodes: A deep-level optical spectroscopy analysis

Aragon, Andrew; Monavarian, Morteza; Pickrell, Greg; Crawford, Mary; Allerman, Andrew; Feezell, Daniel; Armstrong, Andrew M.

doi:10.1063/5.0018829

Defect suppression in wet-treated etched-and-regrown nonpolar m-plane GaN vertical Schottky diodes: A deep-level optical spectroscopy analysis

Journal Article · Thu Nov 12 00:00:00 EST 2020 · Journal of Applied Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0018829· OSTI ID:1725854

^[1]; ^[1]; ^[2]; Crawford, Mary ^[2]; Allerman, Andrew ^[2]; Feezell, Daniel ^[1]; ^[2]

Univ. of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM (United States)
Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

In this work, steady-state photocapacitance (SSPC) was conducted on nonpolar m-plane GaN n-type Schottky diodes to evaluate the defects induced by inductively coupled plasma (ICP) dry etching in etched-and-regrown unipolar structures. An ~10× increase in the near-midgap Ec – 1.9 eV level compared to an as-grown material was observed. Defect levels associated with regrowth without an etch were also investigated. The defects in the regrown structure (without an etch) are highly spatially localized to the regrowth interface. Subsequently, by depth profiling an etched-and-regrown sample, we show that the intensities of the defect-related SSPC features associated with dry etching depend strongly on the depth away from the regrowth interface, which is also reported previously. A photoelectrochemical etching (PEC) method and a wet AZ400K treatment are also introduced to reduce the etch-induced deep levels. A significant reduction in the density of deep levels is observed in the sample that was treated with PEC etching after dry etching and prior to regrowth. An ~2× reduction in the density of Ec – 1.9 eV level compared to a reference etched-and-regrown structure was observed upon the application of PEC etching treatment prior to the regrowth. The PEC etching method is promising for reducing defects in selective-area doping for vertical power switching structures with complex geometries.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E); USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC04-94AL85000; NA0003525

OSTI ID:: 1725854

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1712792

Report Number(s):: SAND--2020-12895J; 692401

Journal Information:: Journal of Applied Physics, Journal Name: Journal of Applied Physics Journal Issue: 18 Vol. 128; ISSN 0021-8979

Publisher:: American Institute of Physics (AIP)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Defect suppression in wet-treated etched-and-regrown nonpolar m-plane GaN vertical Schottky diodes: A deep-level optical spectroscopy analysis

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