Admittance–voltage profiling of Al{sub x}Ga{sub 1−x}N/GaN heterostructures: Frequency dependence of capacitance and conductance

Journal Article · Sat Nov 28 00:00:00 EST 2015 · Journal of Applied Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4936125· OSTI ID:22492986

Köhler, K.; Pletschen, W.; Godejohann, B.; Müller, S.; Menner, H. P.; Ambacher, O. ^[1]

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1. Fraunhofer-Institut für Angewandte Festkörperphysik, Tullastraße 72, 79108 Freiburg (Germany)

Admittance–voltage profiling of Al{sub x}Ga{sub 1−x}N/GaN heterostructures was used to determine the frequency dependent capacitance and conductance of FET devices in the frequency range from 50 Hz to 1 MHz. The nominally undoped low pressure metal-organic vapor-phase epitaxy structures were grown with an Al-content of 30%. An additional 1 nm thick AlN interlayer was placed in one structure before the Al{sub 0.3}Ga{sub 0.7}N layer growth. For frequencies below 10{sup 8} Hz it is convenient to use equivalent circuits to represent electric or dielectric properties of a material, a method widely used, for example, in impedance spectroscopy. We want to emphasize the relation between frequency dependent admittance–voltage profiling and the corresponding equivalent circuits to the complex dielectric function. Debye and Drude models are used for the description of the frequency dependent admittance profiles in a range of depletion onset of the two-dimensional electron gas. Capacitance- and conductance-frequency profiles are fitted in the entire measured range by combining both models. Based on our results, we see contributions to the two-dimensional electron gas for our samples from surface states (80%) as well as from background doping in the Al{sub 0.3}Ga{sub 0.7}N barriers (20%). The specific resistance of the layers below the gate is above 10{sup 5} Ω cm for both samples and increases with increasing negative bias, i.e., the layers below the gate are essentially depleted. We propose that the resistance due to free charge carriers, determined by the Drude model, is located between gate and drain and, because of the AlN interlayer, the resistance is lowered by a factor of about 30 if compared to the sample without an AlN layer.

• OSTI ID: 22492986
• Journal Information: Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 118, Issue 20; Other Information: (c) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0021-8979
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
ALUMINIUM NITRIDES
CHARGE CARRIERS
CRYSTAL GROWTH
DIELECTRIC MATERIALS
DIELECTRIC PROPERTIES
ELECTRON GAS
EQUIVALENT CIRCUITS
FREQUENCY DEPENDENCE
GALLIUM NITRIDES
MHZ RANGE
ORGANOMETALLIC COMPOUNDS
PRESSURE RANGE KILO PA
SPECTROSCOPY
TWO-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS
VAPOR PHASE EPITAXY