Investigation of the low-temperature AlGaN interlayer in AlGaN/GaN/AlGaN double heterostructure on Si substrate

Abstract

A low-temperature (LT) AlGaN interlayer is inserted in the Al0.1Ga0.9N back barrier layer of an Al0.2Ga0.8N/GaN/Al0.1Ga0.9N double heterostructure grown on a 150mm Si substrate. It is found that the 21-nm-thick LT-AlGaN interlayer plays an important role in stress relaxation and dislocation reduction of the Al0.1Ga0.9N back barrier layer, especially for screw dislocation reduction. In addition, a buffer breakdown voltage higher than 600V is achieved, which is much higher than those of conventional heterostructures. These results demonstrate the effectiveness of combining the LT-AlGaN interlayer and the Al0.2Ga0.8N/GaN/Al0.1Ga0.9N double heterostructure on a Si substrate to increase the breakdown voltage for high-power applications. (C) 2014 The Japan Society of Applied Physics