Characterization of nitrided SiC(100) MOS structures by means of electrical measurements and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy

Kobayashi, Takuma*; Suzuki, Asato*; Nakanuma, Takato*; Sometani, Mitsuru*; Okamoto, Mitsuo*; Yoshigoe, Akitaka; Shimura, Takayoshi*; Watanabe, Heiji*

Materials Science in Semiconductor Processing, 175, p.108251_1 - 108251_7, 2024/06

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mssp.2024.108251

Impact of post-nitridation annealing in CO ambient on threshold voltage stability in 4H-SiC metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors

Hosoi, Takuji*; Osako, Momoe*; Moges, K.*; Ito, Koji*; Kimoto, Tsunenobu*; Sometani, Mitsuru*; Okamoto, Mitsuo*; Yoshigoe, Akitaka; Shimura, Takayoshi*; Watanabe, Heiji*

Applied Physics Express, 15(6), p.061003_1 - 061003_5, 2022/06

https://doi.org/10.35848/1882-0786/ac6f42

The combination of NO annealing and subsequent post-nitridation annealing (PNA) in CO ambient for SiO/SiC structures has been demonstrated to be effective in obtaining both high channel mobility and superior threshold voltage stability in SiC-based metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs). N atoms on the SiO side of the SiO/SiC interface incorporated by NO annealing, which are plausible cause of charge trapping sites, could be selectively removed by CO-PNA at 1300C without oxidizing the SiC. CO-PNA was also effective in compensating oxygen vacancies in SiO, resulting high immunity against both positive and negative bias-temperature stresses.

High reactivity of HO vapor on GaN surfaces

Sumiya, Masatomo*; Sumita, Masato*; Tsuda, Yasutaka; Sakamoto, Tetsuya; Sang, L.*; Harada, Yoshitomo*; Yoshigoe, Akitaka

Science and Technology of Advanced Materials, 23(1), p.189 - 198, 2022/00

https://doi.org/10.1080/14686996.2022.2052180

GaN is an attracting material for power-electronic devices. Understanding the oxidation at GaN surface is important for improving metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) devices. In this study, the oxidation at GaN surfaces depending on the GaN crystal planes (+c, -c, and m-plane) was investigated by real time XPS and DFT-MD simulation. We found that HO vapor has the highest reactivity due to the spin interaction between HO and GaN surfaces. The bond length between the Ga and N on the -c GaN surface was increased by OH attacking the back side of three-fold Ga atom. The chemisorption on the m-plane was dominant. The intense reactions of oxidation and AlGaN formation for p-GaN were observed at the interface of the AlO layer deposited by ALD using HO vapor. This study suggests that an oxidant gas other than HO and O should be used to avoid unintentional oxidation during AlGaN atomi layer deposition.

SiO/AlON stacked gate dielectrics for AlGaN/GaN MOS heterojunction field-effect transistors

Watanabe, Kenta*; Terashima, Daiki*; Nozaki, Mikito*; Yamada, Takahiro*; Nakazawa, Satoshi*; Ishida, Masahiro*; Anda, Yoshiharu*; Ueda, Tetsuzo*; Yoshigoe, Akitaka; Hosoi, Takuji*; et al.

Japanese Journal of Applied Physics, 57(6S3), p.06KA03_1 - 06KA03_6, 2018/06

https://doi.org/10.7567/JJAP.57.06KA03

The advantage of SiO/AlON stacked gate dielectrics over SiO, AlON and AlO single dielectric layers was demonstrated. Our systematic research revealed that the optimized stacked structure with 3.3-nm-thick AlON interlayer is beneficial in terms of superior interface quality, reduced gate leakage current and C-V hysteresis for next-generation high frequency and high power AlGaN/GaN MOS-HFETs.

Control of Ga-oxide interlayer growth and Ga diffusion in SiO/GaN stacks for high-quality GaN-based metal-oxide-semiconductor devices with improved gate dielectric reliability

Yamada, Takahiro*; Watanabe, Kenta*; Nozaki, Mikito*; Yamada, Hisashi*; Takahashi, Tokio*; Shimizu, Mitsuaki*; Yoshigoe, Akitaka; Hosoi, Takuji*; Shimura, Takayoshi*; Watanabe, Heiji*

Applied Physics Express, 11(1), p.015701_1 - 015701_4, 2018/01

https://doi.org/10.7567/APEX.11.015701

A simple and feasible method for fabricating high-quality and highly reliable GaN-based metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) devices was developed on the basis of systematic physical and electrical characterizations. Chemical vapor deposition of SiO films directly onto GaN substrates forming Ga-oxide interlayers was used to fabricate SiO/GaO/GaN stacked structures. Although well-behaved hysteresis-free GaN-MOS capacitors with extremely low interface state density below 10cmeV were obtained by post-deposition annealing, Ga diffusion into overlying SiO layers severely degraded the insulating property and dielectric breakdown characteristics of the MOS devices. However, this problem was found to be solved by employing rapid thermal processing, leading to superior performance of the GaN-MOS devices in terms of interface quality, insulating property and gate dielectric reliability.

Comprehensive study on initial thermal oxidation of GaN(0001) surface and subsequent oxide growth in dry oxygen ambient

Yamada, Takahiro*; Ito, Joyo*; Asahara, Ryohei*; Watanabe, Kenta*; Nozaki, Mikito*; Nakazawa, Satoshi*; Anda, Yoshiharu*; Ishida, Masahiro*; Ueda, Tetsuzo*; Yoshigoe, Akitaka; et al.

Journal of Applied Physics, 121(3), p.035303_1 - 035303_9, 2017/01

https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4974458

Initial oxidation of GaN(0001) epilayers and subsequent growth of thermal oxides in dry oxygen ambient were investigated by means of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, spectroscopic ellipsometry, atomic force microscopy and X-ray diffraction measurements. It was found that, whereas initial oxide formation tends to saturate at temperatures below 800C, selective growth of small oxide grains proceeds at dislocations in the epilayers, followed by noticeable grain growth leading to rough surface morphology at higher oxidation temperatures. This indicates that oxide growth and its morphology are crucially dependent on the defect density in the GaN epilayers. Structural characterizations also revealed that polycrystalline - and -phase GaO grains in an epitaxial relation with the GaN substrate are formed from the initial stage of the oxide growth. On the basis of these experimental findings, we also developed a comprehensive model for GaN oxidation mediated by nitrogen removal and mass transport.

Real-time observation of oxidation process on GaN surfaces by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy

Sumiya, Masatomo*; Tsuda, Yasutaka; Sumita, Masato*; Yoshigoe, Akitaka

no journal, , 

Synchrotron radiation X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was employed to clarify the oxidized states on the polar and m-plane GaN surfaces under exposure of various oxidation gases of HO, O, NO, and NO. It was found that HO vapor has the higher reactivity. The oxygen was hardly adsorbed on the surface by irradiating NO and NO gases. Apparently, two oxidation states for O and HO irradiation were detected on +c GaN surface. Physisorption of O molecule was dominate. The dissociation and adsorption of HO molecules co-existed on the +c surface. The chemisorption on the m-plane of GaN was dominant, and a stable Ga-O bond was formed on the surface. These chemical oxygen states were simulated by density functional molecular dynamics calculation using a theoretical model including both electronic spins on the surfaces and the polarity of GaN.

Investigation of Initial Oxide Growth on GaN Epitaxial Films

Yamada, Takahiro*; Ito, Joyo*; Asahara, Ryohei*; Nozaki, Mikito*; Nakazawa, Satoshi*; Ishida, Masahiro*; Ueda, Tetsuzo*; Yoshigoe, Akitaka; Hosoi, Takuji*; Shimura, Takayoshi*; et al.

no journal, , 

Initial oxide growth on GaN epitaxial films by thermal oxidation in dry O ambient was investigated by means of synchrotron radiation X-ray photoemission spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy (AFM). High-resolution SR-PES analysis showed that the intensity ratio of O 1s/N 1s core-level peaks for the sample oxidized at 700 degrees is slightly higher than that for the sample after HCl wet-cleaning, indicating that GaN surface is oxidized. However, the O 1s/N 1s intensity ratio was nearly identical with increasing temperature up to 800 degrees and AFM observation revealed the preferential formation of small grains at the dark pits. On the other hand, the O 1s/N 1s intensity ratio drastically increased with further increasing temperature higher than 800 degrees, indicating significantly enhanced oxide formation on GaN surface.

Investigation of oxide formation process in thermally oxidized GaN surface

Yamada, Takahiro*; Yoshigoe, Akitaka; Ito, Joyo*; Asahara, Ryohei*; Nozaki, Mikito*; Nakazawa, Satoshi*; Ishida, Masahiro*; Ueda, Tetsuzo*; Hosoi, Takuji*; Shimura, Takayoshi*; et al.

no journal, , 

To achieve high performance of GaN MOS devices, high quality interfaces between insulator and GaN are essentially needed. The precise control of native surface oxide and/or interfacial oxide layer is important. In this study, oxide formation process in thermally oxidized GaN surface is analyzed by using synchrotron radiation photoelectron spectroscopy.

Synchrotron radiation photoemission study of thermal oxidation of AlGaN surface

Watanabe, Kenta*; Yamada, Takahiro*; Nozaki, Mikito*; Nakazawa, Satoshi*; Shih, H.*; Anda, Yoshiharu*; Ueda, Tetsuzo*; Yoshigoe, Akitaka; Hosoi, Takuji*; Shimura, Takayoshi*; et al.

no journal, , 

Initial oxidation process of AlGaN surface during thermal oxidation was investigated by synchrotron radiation photoelectron spectroscopy. Thermal oxidation of AlGaN/GaN/Si(111) substrates was carried out for 30 min in the temperature range from 200 to 1000 degrees in O ambient. The obtained Ga 2p spectra exhibited peak shift toward the higher binding energy with increasing oxidation temperature, suggesting the growth of Ga oxides on AlGaN surface. The peak deconvolution of Ga 2p spectra into Ga-O and Ga-N components revealed that the formation of Ga oxides was formed on AlGaN surface at above 400 degrees while GaN surface was stable below 600 degrees. These results indicate that AlGaN surface is easy to be oxidized compared to GaN surface.