Investigating the RTA Treatment of Ohmic Contacts to n-Layers of Heterobipolar Nanoheterostructures

Abstract

The preparation of ohmic contacts to heterobipolar nanostructures has a number of characteristic features. In addition to the basic requirement of minimizing contact resistance, contacts to this type of structures have a transition layer whose depth of penetration must not exceed the emitter layer’s thickness, due to the possibility of short-circuiting the emitter base p–n junction. In this work, the effect the main technological parameters of rapid thermal annealing have on a contact’s characteristics are examined, and the process of obtaining a low-resistance ohmic contact to heterobipolar transistor layers is optimized. Ohmic contacts to the n-layers of heterobipolar nanoheterostructures based on gallium arsenide and produced via layer-by-layer electron-beam deposition of Ge/Au/Ni/Au are considered. The diffusion distribution profiles of doping with Ge impurities are calculated as a function of the time and temperature of rapid thermal annealing, and are examined via scanning electron microscopy. It is found that rapid thermal annealing for 60 s at a temperature of 398°C yields ohmic contacts with low resistance, smooth surface morphology, and the minimum size of the transition layer.