Investigation of Donor and Acceptor Ion Implantation in AlN
- Agnitron Technology Inc., Eden Prairie, MN (United States)
AlGaN alloys with high Al composition and AlN based electronic devices are attractive for high voltage, high temperature applications, including microwave power sources, power switches and communication systems. AlN is of particular interest because of its wide bandgap of ~6.1eV which is ideal for power electronic device applications in extreme environments which requires high dose ion implantation. One of the major challenges that need to be addressed to achieve full utilization of AlN for opto and microelectronic applications is the development of a doping strategy for both donors and acceptors. Ion implantation is a particularly attractive approach since it allows for selected-area doping of semiconductors due to its high spatial and dose control and its high throughput capability. Active layers in the semiconductor are created by implanting a dopant species followed by very high temperature annealing to reduce defects and thereby activate the dopants. Recovery of implant damage in AlN requires excessively high temperature. In this SBIR program we began the investigation by simulation of ion beam implantation profiles for Mg, Ge and Si in AlN over wide dose and energy ranges. Si and Ge are implanted to achieve the n-type doping, Mg is investigated as a p-type doping. The simulation of implantation profiles were performed in collaboration between NRL and Agnitron using a commercial software known as Stopping and Range of Ions in Matter (SRIM). The simulation results were then used as the basis for ion implantation of AlN samples. The implanted samples were annealed by an innovative technique under different conditions and evaluated along the way. Raman spectroscopy and XRD were used to determine the crystal quality of the implanted samples, demonstrating the effectiveness of annealing in removing implant induced damage. Additionally, SIMS was used to verify that a nearly uniform doping profile was achieved near the sample surface. The electrical characteristics of the implanted samples were evaluated by TLM and Hall techniques. Generally, the implanted samples before and after annealing were found to be very resistive. Further work is required before the superior properties of AlN can be fully utilized.
- Research Organization:
- Agnitron Technology Inc., Eden Prairie, MN (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC)
- Contributing Organization:
- Univ. of Florida, Gainesville, FL (United States); Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- SC0011933
- OSTI ID:
- 1214736
- Report Number(s):
- DOE-AGNITRON-11933
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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