Influence of post-deposition annealing on interfacial properties between GaN and ZrO2 grown by atomic layer deposition

• Main Authors: Ye, Gang, Wang, Hong, Ng, Serene Lay Geok, Ji, Rong, Arulkumaran, Subramaniam, Ng, Geok Ing, Li, Yang, Liu, Zhi Hong, Ang, Kian Siong
• Other Authors: School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2014
• Subjects: DRNTU::Science::Physics::Atomic physics
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/101819; http://hdl.handle.net/10220/24216
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Influence of post-deposition annealing on interfacial properties related to the formation/annihilation of interfacial GaOx layer of ZrO2 grown by atomic layer deposition (ALD) on GaN is studied. ZrO2 films were annealed in N2 atmospheres in temperature range of 300 °C to 700 °C and analyzed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. It has been found that Ga-O bond to Ga-N bond area ratio decreases in the samples annealed at temperatures lower than 500 °C, which could be attributed to the thinning of GaOx layer associated with low surface defect states due to “clean up” effect of ALD-ZrO2 on GaN. However, further increase in annealing temperature results in deterioration of interface quality, which is evidenced by increase in Ga-O bond to Ga-N bond area ratio and the reduction of Ga-N binding energy.