AVS 49th International Symposium
    Electronic Materials and Devices Tuesday Sessions
       Session EL+SC-TuM

Paper EL+SC-TuM8
Growth and Characterization of Heterjunction Diode Made of AlN on Si(111)

Tuesday, November 5, 2002, 10:40 am, Room C-107

Session: Heterojunctions
Presenter: K. Sundaresan, University of North Carolina
Authors: K. Sundaresan, University of North Carolina
M. Jenkins, University of North Carolina
M.-A. Hasan, University of North Carolina
M. Sardela Jr., University of Illinois
Correspondent: Click to Email
Single crystalline hexagonal AlN(001) was grown on Si(111) using surface-reconstruction induced epitaxy. The Si(111)7x7 surface, generated under thermal etching under UHV, was first passivated by deposition of ~0.3 monolayer (ML) of Al at 650-700 °C. Each Al atom bonds to 3 Si atoms on the surface, which give rise to the well-known Si(111)root3xroot3 surface. The well ordered, Al-passivated Si(111)root3xroot3 surface was then used as a template to initiate epitaxial growth of AlN on Si. The growth was conducted by using an atomic N flux from a RF atomic source and thermal Al evaporation. X-ray diffraction showed single crystalline hexagonal AlN(001) with a full width at half maximum (FWHM), measured from the layer peak, equal to that of the Si substrate indicating highly oriented AlN layer. Epitaxial growth was achieved over a wide range of Al/N flux ratio and growth temperatures extending from 350 to 850 °C. AlN/Si heterojunction diode, fabricated using this method showed a breakdown voltage in excess of 350 V and a leakage current below 100 nA indicating high quality interface.