Common semiconductors comparison

GaAs
Properties Si (AlGaAs/ InP 4H- SiC GaN
InGaAs) (InAlAs/ (----) (AlGaN/
(----)
InGaAs) GaN)

Bandgap (eV) 1.11 1.42 1.35 3.26 3.42

e (cm2/Vs) 1500 8500 5400 700 900

(10000) (10000) (2000)
Vsat 1 1 1 2 1.5
( 107 cm/s) (2.1) (2.3) (2.7)
2DEG density NA < 41012 < 41012 NA 1-2 1013
(cm-2)
EB (106 V/cm) 0.3 0.4 0.5 2 3.3

Dielectric 11.8 12.8 12.5 10 9

constant
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 Wide bandgap applications

GaN is projected to be a $3 billion industry by 2007 !

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 Figures of merit for high frequency/high power devices
Relative
Electron mobility Bandgap BFOM JFM
Semiconductor permittivity Tmax (°C)
(cm2/Vsec) Eg (eV) Ratio Ratio
e
Si 1300 11.4 1.1 1.0 1.0 300
GaAs 5000 13.1 1.4 9.6 3.5 300
SiC 260 9.7 2.9 3.1 60 600
GaN 1500 9.5 3.4 24.6 80 700

BFOM: Baliga’s figure-of-merit  n ECR 3 JFM: Johnson’s figure-of-merit ECRvsat 2

ce o v s E B2
Combined Figure of Merit

CFOM =
400 (ce o vs EB2 )silicon
200 c is thermal conductivity
EB is breakdown field
 is low field mobility
0 vs is saturation velocity
Si GaAs 6H- 4H- GaN eo is dielectric constant
SiC SiC ELECT 871 01/28/04
 Advantages for Nitride Electronic Devices

Properties Advantages

•High mobility
•High saturation velocity High microwave power,
•High sheet carrier concentration Power electronic devices
•High breakdown field

•Wide bandgap (ni = NC NV exp  E

G / 2 kT
) High temperature operation
•Growth on SiC substrate

•Chemical inertness Holds promise for reliable

•Good ohmic contacts
device fabrication
•No micropipes

•SiO2/AlGaN and SiO2/GaN good Insulated Gate

quality interfaces transistors possible
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 Power densities for GaN and SiC
microwave devices

Highest reported value of power density of 12 W/mm at DRC, 2003

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Size reduction with same output power

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 Applications in power electronics
Schottky metal Low doped GaN n+ substrate Ohmic metal

RON = (4VB 2 / e    E M 3 ) + s  WS + RC (per unit length)

VF (nkT/ e)(ln[JF / A T ] + nf B + RON  JF

= ** 2

VB = Reverse breakdown voltage

EM = Maximum electric field strength at breakdown
s = substrate resistivity
Ws = thickness of substrate
Advantage: Higher VB for same Ron and lower Ron for the same VB
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 Optoelectronics Applications: LEDs

Ti/Au
t= 1-5 μm Ni/Au

Pd/Ag/Au

p+-GaN
p-GaN
n-InGaN MQW
Ti/Al/Ti/Au n-GaN

n+-GaN

Al2O3

100 μm

• Blue-Green LEDs 3-5 mW @ 20 mA

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 Nitride based lasers

• Purple - Blue CW Lasers (104 h lifetime)

• Blue lasers are used for increasing storage capacities of DVDs
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 Bio-agent and missile plume detection
A. Bio-agent detection due to UV induced fluorescence

Deep UV Light Spectrometer Detector

Bio organism

B. Solar blind photo-detectors for missile plume detection

Solar Spectrum

Ozone
layer

290 nm
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 Non line-of-sight communication

• Uses UV LEDs with

~280 nm wavelength
• Useful in areas where
the parties concerned
cannot see each other,
but very fast and
highly reliable
communication is
essential

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 Advantages of nitride based light source

• Compact, light, inexpensive, efficient, and

robust light sources can be made of III-nitrides
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 Gallium nitride structure
• 2 interpenetrating HCP
structures of Ga and N
atoms each displaced from
the other by 3/8 c
• Structure is 2H type
• Atoms of only Ga or N lie
on any single plane normal
to the c-axis (<0001> or
<000-1>, called c-planes),
but not for a-planes
• Very strongly polar bond
as N is the most
electronegative of the
Group V materials
• The crystal structure is
non-centrosymmetric, i.e.
lacks inversion symmetry
along the c-axis
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SiC polytypes

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 Band structure
Zinc Blende Zinc Blende

Wurtzite Wurtzite

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 Electrical/Physical properties of GaN
• Bandgap: 3.44 eV, Electron affinity: 3.5 eV
• Lattice constant: 3.189 Å (a) , 5.185 Å (c)
• Breakdown field: 3.3  106 V/cm
• Dielectric constant: 9.5 (static), 5.35 (high freq.)
• Optical phonon energy: 91.8 meV
• me* : 0.22 m0 , mh*: 1.0 m0 (heavy hole)
• Ionization energy: Si (12 meV), Mg (210 meV)
• Mobility (cm2V-1s-1) : n = 1000, h = < 200
• Saturation velocity (cm/s): 2.7  107 cm/s
(Theory), 2  107 cm/s (practice)
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 Mechanical/thermal properties of GaN

• Thermal conductivity: 1.95 Wcm-1C-1

• Tharmal expansion: a = 5.59  10-6 °C-1, c = 3.17 
10-6 °C-1
• Elastic constants (GPa): C13= 103, C33 = 405
• Piezoelectric constants: e31 = -0.49, e33 = 0.73 C/m2
• Hardness: 15.5 GPa
• GaN is also chemically quite unreactive (very difficult
to etch), with the N-face material being chemically more
active than the Ga-face material

ELECT 871 01/28/04

 Crystal parameters
Ga-face
Three important parameters:
c0 = unit cell height
a0 = edge length of basal plane
hexagon
u0 c0 = cation-anion bond length
1
1  1 2 2 2
3 basal bonds lengths are: a  +   u    
c
 3  2   a  

All the nitrides

have lower c/a
ratio than
ideal, which is
necessary for
stability
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 Spontaneous polarization
(polarization in unstrained lattice)
• Condition for polarization to exist:
1. Bonds must be polar (atoms must be different)
2. Crystals must lack inversion symmetry (different along [0001]
and [000-1]
3. Similar atoms must be on the same plane (no polarization
along a-plane where the atoms are mixed)
• Condition for spontaneous polarization:
1. The c/a ratio must differ from the ideal ratio of (8/3) = 1.633
N. B. Spontaneous polarization
for nitrides are all negative i.e.
directed toward the surface

The spontaneous polarization of AlN is greatest of all nitrides due to

largest deviation from ideal c/a ratio ELECT 871 01/28/04
 Piezoelectric polarization
(polarization caused by strain)
(
PPE = e33e z + e31 e x + e y ) e  strain in x, y, or z
directions
e z = (c  c0 ) c0 , e x = e y = (a  a0 ) a0 . e  piezoelectric
coefficients
C13 a  a0  C13 
Also, e z = 2 ex Therefore, P
PE =2  e31  e33 
C33 a0  C33 
(e31  e33C13 / C33 )
is always –ve,
as e31 is always –ve,
and others are +ve.

• Spontaneous and piezoelectric polarization aid each other

for tensile strain and oppose for compressive strain
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 Polarization in heterostructures
P
 =   P ( in  =  lim
cm-3)  x =  int =  lim P
x 0 x x 0

 int = Ptot,layer1  Ptot,layer2 = (PSP + PPE )layer1  (PSP + PPE )layer2

= (PSP + PPE )GaN  (PSP + PPE )AlGaN (int in cm-2)

Ga-face epilayers Quantum well is formed

at the interface
-s fb
AlGaN PSP PPE Tensile
Ec
+int strain EF
E0
GaN PSP d
Buffer 2DEG
comp
int
+ ve
c-plane sapphire AlGaN GaN

2DEG
surf
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 Development of the band diagram
• The band bends with a constant slope
across the AlGaN layer due to the
presence of a charge dipole across it Quantum well is formed
with positive net charge at the interface at the interface
and negative net charge at the surface fb
Ec
• The conduction band discontinuity E0 EF
forms one side of the quantum well d
which is approximately triangular comp
int
• The 2DEG is in the GaN layer, and has + ve AlGaN GaN
a finite spread in space (can be found by
CV technique). Due to this, the 2DEG
surf
conduction band is curved (following
poisson’s equation)
• The interaction between the charge
assembly at the interface and that at the
substrate/GaN interface is minimal due
to large distance between them
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Spontaneous and piezoelectric polarization under different
conditions of the GaN and AlGaN layers

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 Band diagram under polarization
Ga-face
Ga-face

EC EC
Surface

Substrate

Surface

Substrate
AlGaN GaN AlGaN GaN AlGaN GaN AlGaN GaN

EV
EV
-surf + -int +int
Type I band alignment int

1. AlGaN/GaN/AlGaN/Ga 2. AlGaN/GaN/AlGaN
N band line-up: no Heterostructure band
polarization, no charge line-up: with polarization,
transfer, no interface no charge transfer, no
charge (2DEG) interface charge (2DEG)

EC = 0.7[Eg(x) – Eg (0)]

x = Al alloy composition
Eg(x) = 6.13x +3.42(1-x) – x(1-x)
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 Polarization modified bands of
Multiple Quantum Wells (MQWs)
Ga-face

EC

Substrate
Surface

AlGaN GaN AlGaN GaN AlGaN GaN AlGaN GaN

EV

-surf + -int +int -int +int -int +int

int

GaN
Etot = E sp
GaN
+ E GaN
pz =
d AlGaN
d AlGaNe GaN + d GaN e AlGaN
( ) (
PspAlGaN + PpzAlGaN  PspGaN + Ppz
GaN
)
AlGaN
Etot = EspAlGaN + E pz
AlGaN
=
dGaN
d AlGaNe GaN + dGaNe AlGaN
(
PspGaN + Ppz
GaN
) (
 PspAlGaN + PpzAlGaN )
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 Quaternary band engineering
AlInN lattice matched
to GaN for 18% In

AlInGaN

Advantages of quaternaries: Independent variation of the

bandgap (and so offset) and lattice mismatch ELECT 871 01/28/04
 Applications for HFETs
Quantum well is formed
Ga-face at the interface
fb
-s
AlGaN PSP PPE Ec
E0 EF
+int
d
GaN PSP comp
Buffer 2DEG int
+ ve
AlGaN GaN
c-plane sapphire
2DEG
surf
Higher Al composition  Higher sheet
charge but lower critical thickness
Lower thickness of AlGaN  lower breakdown field for HFET
• Band engineering based on quaternary nitride growth can help in
reducing strain (for higher Al %) and increase critical thickness
However growth of quaternaries are difficult (In segregation)!
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 Applications in Optoelectronics
• Independent control of the
strain (via lattice constant)
AlInGaN/
and band offset leading to InGaN
better quantum efficiency MQW
• Provides better thermal match
to the GaN substrate, so
reduces stress during
cooldown phase (from
growth temperature to room
temperature) after growth

However growth of
quaternaries are difficult !

AlInGaN/InGaN MQW LED on sapphire

ELECT 871 01/28/04
 Summary of III-nitrides until now
• Comparison of III-nitrides with other
semiconductors
• Applications overview of nitrides (based on the
unique properties)
– High power microwave devices
– Power electronic devices
– UV lasers and LEDs
• Crystal and band structure overview
• Polarization: Physics and consequences
• Formation and use of quaternary alloys of nitrides

ELECT 871 01/28/04