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The effect of excess gallium vacancies in low-temperature GaAs/AlAs/GaAs:Si heterostructures

Journal Article · · Journal of Applied Physics
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.362742· OSTI ID:288860
 [1];  [2];  [3]
  1. Department of Materials Science and Mineral Engineering, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, California 94720 (United States)
  2. MIT, Lincoln Laboratory, Lexington, Massachusetts 02173 (United States)
  3. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720 (United States)

This article shows that the presence of low-temperature-grown GaAs (LT-GaAs) in LT-GaAs/AlAs/GaAs:Si heterostructures increases the Al/Ga interdiffusion at the heterostructure interfaces. The interdiffusion enhancement is attributed to the presence of Ga vacancies ({ital V}{sub Ga}) in the As-rich LT-GaAs, which diffuses from a supersaturation of {ital V}{sub Ga} frozen-in during sample growth. Chemical mapping, which distinguishes between the AlAs and GaAs lattices at an atomic scale, is used to measure the Al concentration gradient in adjacent GaAs:Si layers. A correlation is observed between the Al/Ga interdiffusion and the gate breakdown voltage in metal-insulator field-effect transistor structures containing LT-GaAs. {copyright} {ital 1996 American Institute of Physics.}

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
DOE Contract Number:
AC03-76SF00098
OSTI ID:
288860
Journal Information:
Journal of Applied Physics, Journal Name: Journal of Applied Physics Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 80; ISSN JAPIAU; ISSN 0021-8979
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English