Pd/Ge/Ti/Au ohmic contact to AlGaAs/InGaAs pseudomorphic high electron mobility transistor with an undoped cap layer

Abstract

The Pd/Ge/Ti/Au ohmic contact to AlGaAs/InGaAs pseudomorphic high electron mobility transistor was investigated with the etch depth of an undoped GaAs/AlGaAs cap layer. The contact resistivity decreases from 9.5×10−5 to 2.3×10−6 Ω cm2 when the contacts were formed on a n-Al0.23Ga0.77As layer by removing the undoped cap layer. X-ray diffraction results show that the good ohmic contact is due to the formation of Au2Al as well as β-AuGa. Both compounds play a role to create group-III vacancies, followed by the incorporation of Ge into group-III vacancies, namely, creation of free electron below the contact. This results in the considerable elimination of contact resistivity by lowering the effective tunneling barrier.