Papers by Author: Vito Raineri

Abstract: Irradiation with high energy (500 keV) C+ ions at fluences from 11013 to 11014 cm-2 was used to introduce controlled amounts of defects in single layers of graphene deposited on a SiO2(100 nm)/n+Si substrate. Scanning Capacitance Spectroscopy (SCS) was used as non-destructive characterization technique to probe the effect of irradiation on the electrical properties of graphene. In particular, a comparative study between the local capacitance of pristine graphene and irradiated graphene is presented, showing that lateral variations in irradiated graphene are distinctly higher. The local quantum capacitance per unit area C’q of graphene was extracted from raw data. While a narrow distribution of C’q values was obtained in pristine graphene, two distinct distributions were obtained in irradiated monolayers, associated to locally damaged and not damaged regions, respectively.

Abstract: Gallium nitride (GaN) and related alloys (AlxGa1-xN) are promising semiconductors for high-frequency and high-power devices applications. In particular, the growth of AlGaN/GaN heterostructures on SiC substrates, due to the high thermal conductivity of SiC, can lead to significant improvement in the device performances. An important issue in the fabrication of AlGaN/GaN devices is the influence of the required thermal budget (700-900°C) on the properties of Ohmic contacts and device isolation. In this work, the influence of thermal annealing on the fabrication of AlGaN/GaN devices was studied. Ti/Al/Ni/Au multilayers led to an Ohmic behavior with a specific resistance c in the 10-5 cm2 range upon annealing between 750°C and 850°C. The electrical behavior of Ohmic contacts was correlated with the evolution of the formed phases and with the temperature behavior of c. The stability of the inter-device isolation obtained by nitrogen-implantation during annealing at these temperatures was also monitored.

Abstract: The recent improvement of GaN material quality launched new perspective for its application in power devices. However, ion-implanted guard-ring edge terminations, necessary to improve the breakdown voltage, are not well developed as in SiC technology. Indeed, the effects of high-temperature annealing, required for the electrical activation of the implanted species in GaN, on the electrical behaviour of Schottky contact was not reported. In this work, the influence of high temperature annealing (1150-1200°C) on the surface morphology of GaN and on the electrical behaviour of Schottky contact was studied. Although the morphology of GaN surface did not substantially change after annealing, a worsening of the electrical behaviour of Schottky contact was observed. This latter was ascribed to the formation of a high density of interface states after annealing.

Abstract: This paper reports on the macro- and nanoscale electro-structural evolution, as a function of annealing temperature, of nickel-silicide Ohmic contacts to 3C-SiC, grown on 6H-SiC substrates by a Vapor-Liquid-Solid (VLS) technique. The structural and electrical characterization of the contacts, carried out by combining different techniques, showed a correlation between the annealing temperature and the electrical characteristics in both the macro- and the nanoscale measurements. Increasing the annealing temperature between 600 and 950 °C caused a gradual increase of the uniformity of the nanoscale current-distribution, with an accompanying reduction of the specific contact resistance from 5 x 10-5 to 8.4 x 10-6 Ωcm2. After high temperature annealing (950 °C) the structural composition of the contacts stabilized, as only the Ni2Si phase was detected. A comparison with previous literature findings suggests a superior crystalline quality of the single domain VLS 3C-SiC layers.

Abstract: We studied the evolution of the electrical activation with annealing temperature and time in 4H-SiC implanted with Al ions at room temperature (RT). An accurate comparison between the electrical activation data obtained by FPP and SCM was carried out. The dependence of the electrically active profiles on annealing time was studied during isothermal (Tann=1600 °C) annealings for times ranging from 0 (spike anneal) to 30 min. By performing isochronal (t=30 min) processes at temperatures from 1550 to 1650 °C, the effect of the annealing temperature on the net doping concentration profiles was studied. Moreover, the activation energy (6.30.3 eV) associated to the process was extracted from the Arrhenius plot of the net active dose. Finally, the effect of the different thermal budgets on the roughening of the Al implanted 4H-SiC surface was also investigated in details by atomic force microscopy.

Abstract: We describe the potential use of scanning probe microscopy (SPM) to image at nanoscale the charge transport in conductive layers, through dielectrics and barriers and in general for mapping of physical properties in wide band gap materials, processing and devices. Measurements through conductive layers are described discussing the limits and potentialities. Carrier profiling by SPM is presented and critically discussed as a complex method, crossing information from several techniques, to extract more insights related to carrier distribution.

Abstract: In this work, the electrical properties of Pt/GaN Schottky contacts were studied. The temperature dependence of the barrier height and ideality factor, and the low experimental value of the Richardson’s constant, were discussed considering the formation of an inhomogenous Schottky barrier. Local current-voltage measurements on Pt/GaN contact, performed with a conductive atomic force microscope, demonstrated a Gaussian distribution of the local barrier height values and allowed to monitor the degree of inhomogeneity of the barrier. The presence of defects, terminating on the bare GaN surface, was correlated with the electrical behavior of the inhomogeneous barrier.

Abstract: The Schottky barrier lowering in 4H-SiC interdigit Schottky-type UV photodiode is investigated in the presence of a thermally grown oxide layer on the exposed active area. Gain photocurrent is observed and correlated with the presence of the oxide and with the charge traps at the semiconductor/oxide interface. Photo-thermally stimulated current measurements evidenced that interface charge accumulation is optically promoted. Rise and fall photo-current measurements provided the time parameter of the trapping phenomenon.

Abstract: In the present work, we systematically studied the effect of the annealing temperature (from 1400 °C to 1650 °C) on the electrical activation of 4H-SiC implanted with multiple energy (from 40 to 550 keV) and medium dose (1×1013 cm-2) Al ions. The evolution of the acceptor (NA) and compensating donor (ND) depth profiles was monitored by the combined use of scanning capacitance microscopy (SCM) and scanning spreading resistance microscopy (SSRM). We demonstrated that the electrical activation of the implanted layer with increasing annealing temperature is the result of the increase in the acceptor concentration and of the decrease in the ND/NA ratio. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) morphological analyses indicated that the surface quality is preserved even after the 1650 °C annealing process.

Abstract: In this work, a methodology, based on a self-organization process, to form gold nanoclusters on the 6H-SiC surface, is illustrated. By scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy the gold self-organization induced by annealing processes was studied and modelled by classical limited surface diffusion ripening theories. These studies allowed us to fabricate Au nanoclusres/SiC nanostructured materials with tunable structural properties. The local electrical properties of such a nanostructured material were probed, by conductive atomic force microscopy collecting high statistics of I-V curves. The main observed result was the Schottky barrier height (SBH) dependence on the cluster size. This behaviour is interpreted considering the physics of few electron quantum dots merged with the ballistic transport. A quite satisfying agreement between the theoretical forecast behaviour and the experimental data has been found.