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Title: Ultra-wide-bandgap AlGaN homojunction tunnel diodes with negative differential resistance

Abstract

The power efficiencies of state-of-the-art AlxGa1-xN deep-ultraviolet (UV) emitters operating in the <300 nm wavelength region are currently limited to a few percent in part due to limitations in the series and contact resistance which result in excessive drive voltages. AlxGa1-xN tunnel contacts and tunnel junctions in deep-UV devices are a promising route toward increasing these efficiencies by improving the contact resistances, hole injection, and reducing optical absorption by removing undesirable p-GaN contact layers. However, due to doping inefficiencies, standalone tunnel diodes have not been realized in the form of homojunction AlxGa1-xN. In this work, AlxGa1-xN (0.19 ≤ x ≤ 0.58) homojunction tunnel diodes are fabricated with high reverse bias current densities, and one device with x = 0.19 demonstrates a negative differential resistance at ~2.4 V. AlxGa1-xN p++/n++/n tunnel diodes are compared to reference p++/i/n diodes to provide clarity about the role of tunneling conduction vs leakage conduction. Transmission electron microscopy verifies that heavy doping does not result in visible defects such as Mg precipitates and allows for subsequent epitaxy, critical for buried tunnel junction structures. Increasing the bandgap energy of AlxGa1-xN for higher Al content tunnel junctions decreases the tunnel current, but still allows sufficient conduction necessary formore » future improvements in deep UV emitter efficiencies.« less

Authors:
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [2];  [2];  [1]
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  1. Georgia Inst. of Technology, Atlanta, GA (United States)
  2. Arizona State Univ., Tempe, AZ (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Arizona State Univ., Tempe, AZ (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E); National Science Foundation (NSF)
OSTI Identifier:
1613607
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1558133
Grant/Contract Number:  
AR0000470; EEC-1041895; DMR-1710032
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Applied Physics Letters
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 115; Journal Issue: 8; Journal ID: ISSN 0003-6951
Publisher:
American Institute of Physics (AIP)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS; Physics; Tunnel junctions; Tunnel diode; Optoelectronic applications; X-ray diffraction; Electronic bandstructure; Transmission electron microscopy; PIN diode; Doping; Nitrides

Citation Formats

Clinton, Evan A., Engel, Zachary, Vadiee, Ehsan, Carpenter, Joe V., Holman, Zachary C., and Doolittle, W. Alan. Ultra-wide-bandgap AlGaN homojunction tunnel diodes with negative differential resistance. United States: N. p., 2019. Web. doi:10.1063/1.5113503.
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Clinton, Evan A., Engel, Zachary, Vadiee, Ehsan, Carpenter, Joe V., Holman, Zachary C., & Doolittle, W. Alan. Ultra-wide-bandgap AlGaN homojunction tunnel diodes with negative differential resistance. United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5113503
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Clinton, Evan A., Engel, Zachary, Vadiee, Ehsan, Carpenter, Joe V., Holman, Zachary C., and Doolittle, W. Alan. Wed . "Ultra-wide-bandgap AlGaN homojunction tunnel diodes with negative differential resistance". United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5113503. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1613607.
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@article{osti_1613607,
title = {Ultra-wide-bandgap AlGaN homojunction tunnel diodes with negative differential resistance},
author = {Clinton, Evan A. and Engel, Zachary and Vadiee, Ehsan and Carpenter, Joe V. and Holman, Zachary C. and Doolittle, W. Alan},
abstractNote = {The power efficiencies of state-of-the-art AlxGa1-xN deep-ultraviolet (UV) emitters operating in the <300 nm wavelength region are currently limited to a few percent in part due to limitations in the series and contact resistance which result in excessive drive voltages. AlxGa1-xN tunnel contacts and tunnel junctions in deep-UV devices are a promising route toward increasing these efficiencies by improving the contact resistances, hole injection, and reducing optical absorption by removing undesirable p-GaN contact layers. However, due to doping inefficiencies, standalone tunnel diodes have not been realized in the form of homojunction AlxGa1-xN. In this work, AlxGa1-xN (0.19 ≤ x ≤ 0.58) homojunction tunnel diodes are fabricated with high reverse bias current densities, and one device with x = 0.19 demonstrates a negative differential resistance at ~2.4 V. AlxGa1-xN p++/n++/n tunnel diodes are compared to reference p++/i/n diodes to provide clarity about the role of tunneling conduction vs leakage conduction. Transmission electron microscopy verifies that heavy doping does not result in visible defects such as Mg precipitates and allows for subsequent epitaxy, critical for buried tunnel junction structures. Increasing the bandgap energy of AlxGa1-xN for higher Al content tunnel junctions decreases the tunnel current, but still allows sufficient conduction necessary for future improvements in deep UV emitter efficiencies.},
doi = {10.1063/1.5113503},
journal = {Applied Physics Letters},
number = 8,
volume = 115,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Aug 21 00:00:00 EDT 2019},
month = {Wed Aug 21 00:00:00 EDT 2019}
}
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https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5113503
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