Identification of microscopic hole-trapping mechanisms in nitride semiconductors

Journal Article · Thu Dec 17 00:00:00 EST 2015 · IEEE Electron Device Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1109/LED.2015.2509068· OSTI ID:1254124

Krishnaswamy, Karthik ^[1]; Van de Walle, Chris G. ^[1]; Anderson, Janotti ^[1]

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1. Univ. of California, Santa Barbara, CA (United States)

Hole trapping has been observed in nitride heterostructure devices, where the Fermi level is in the vicinity of the valence-band maximum. Using hybrid density functional calculations, we examine microscopic mechanisms for hole trapping in GaN and AlN. In a defect-free material, hole trapping does not spontaneously occur, but trapping can occur in the vicinity of impurities, such as C-a common unintentional impurity in nitrides. As a result, using Schrodinger-Poisson simulations, we assess the effects of C-derived hole traps on N-face high-electron mobility transistors, which we find to be more detrimental than the previously proposed interface traps.

• Research Organization: Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
• Grant/Contract Number: SC00112704
• OSTI ID: 1254124
• Report Number(s): BNL-112143-2016-JA; KC0403020
• Journal Information: IEEE Electron Device Letters, Vol. 37, Issue 2; ISSN 0741-3106
• Publisher: IEEE
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
hole traps
nitride semiconductors
first-principles calculations
impurities