A robust ohmic contact process with ultralow contact resistivity on p-GaN/AlGaN/GaN is demonstrated. An in-situ removal of GaO X interfacial layer after contact metal deposition is developed. Using the novel Mg/Pt/Au stack as the contact metal, a stable ohmic contact is obtained after 450°C/300 s annealing with ohmic contact resistivity of $12 \Omega \cdot {\mathrm {mm}}$ ( $1.8\times 10^{-5}\, \Omega \cdot {\mathrm {cm}}^{2}$ ). A new ohmic contact formation mechanism on p-GaN/AlGaN/GaN is also proposed.
This study optimizes the CuOx/Ga2O3 heterojunction diodes (HJDs) by tailoring the structural parameters of CuOx layers. The hole concentration in the sputtered CuOx was precisely controlled by adjusting the Ar/O2 gas ratio. Experimental investigations and TCAD simulations were employed to systematically evaluate the impact of the CuOx layer dimension and hole concentration on the electrical performance of HJDs. The results indicate that increasing the diameter dimension of the CuOx layer or tuning the hole concentration to optimal values significantly enhances the breakdown voltage (VB) of single-layer HJDs by mitigating the electric field crowing effects. Additionally, a double-layer CuOx structure (p+ CuOx/p− CuOx) was designed and optimized to achieve an ideal balance between the VB and specific on-resistance (Ron,sp). This double-layer HJD demonstrated a high VB of 2780 V and a low Ron,sp of 6.46 mΩ·cm2, further yielding a power figure of merit of 1.2 GW/cm2. These findings present a promising strategy for advancing the performance of Ga2O3 devices in power electronics applications.
Mg-doped spin-on-glass (SOG) treatment is employed as a simple and effective Mg doping method, which can lower the barrier height of p-GaN/metal and form robust Ni/Au Ohmic contact on p-GaN/AlGaN/GaN structure. After SOG treatment annealed at 870°C, the specific contact resistivity and contact resistivity of Ni/Au metal stack decreased from 1.3 × 10−3 Ω·cm2 to 1.2 × 10−4 Ω·cm2 and from 78.2 Ω·mm to 22.5 Ω·mm, respectively. The SOG treatment maintained a good surface morphology and effectively increased Mg concentration near the p-GaN surface, which could in situ decompose the dense GaOX layer. In addition, the SOG treatment facilitated Ga out-diffusion from p-GaN layer, and the inversion process induced by Ni/Au-based p-GaN Ohmic annealing is more complete, ultimately forming a p-GaN/Au/NiO Ohmic stack with a favorable atomic arrangement interface. These results demonstrate the significant potential of SOG technology in the selective doping of p-GaN.