Patent · US Expired

Passivation and insulation of III-V devices with pnictides, particularly amorphous pnictides having a layer-like structure

US5247349A · kind A · utility

31Cited by
14References
16Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateAug 22, 1990
Grant dateSep 21, 1993
Priority date
Expiry dateAug 22, 2010

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH10K10/462
  • WIPO fieldSemiconductors
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

Pnictide thin films, particularly phosphorus, grown on III-V semiconductors, particularly InP, GaP, and GaAs, are amorphous and have a novel layer-like, puckered sheet-like local order. The thin films are typically 400 Angstroms thick and grown preferably by molecular beam deposition, although other processes such as vacuum evaporation, sputtering, chemical vapor deposition, and deposition from a liquid melt may be used. The layers are grown on the <100> <110>, and surfaces of the III-V crystals. The pnictide layer reduces the density of surface states, and allows the depletion layer to be modulated, the surface barrier reduced, the electron concentration at the surface increased, and there is a decrease in the surface recombination velocity and an increase in the photoluminescence intensity. The layers may be utilized in MIS and Metal-semiconductor (Schottky) devices for example to insulate and passivate MISFETS, to passivate MESFETS, to reduce the surface current component of the reverse bias dark current in P-I-N and avalanche diodes, and to improve performance of opto-electronic devices such as light emitting diodes, lasers, solar cells, photo cathodes and photo detectors. The …

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.