Enhancement of a rectifying characteristic of InGaP diodes by hydrogenation

The effect of hydrogenation on electrical properties of InGaP epitaxy layers grown on GaAs has been investigated. It is found that hydrogenation using an infrared lamp heating at 200 degrees C can give rise to good rectifying characteristics on the Au/n-InGaP Schottky diode as well as to the passivation of defects. For the hydrogenated sample, the breakdown voltage increases to 35 from 4 V, the leakage current decreases by three orders of magnitude, and the saturation current increases about 100 times, relative to those for the untreated one. This characteristic is thought to result from the increase of the diode barrier height during hydrogenation. That is, the atomic hydrogen which diffuses into InGaP neutralizes the Si donor dopant as well as deep levels near the surface, resulting in the increase of the barrier height and the reduction of recombination centers. (C) 1999 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-8979(99)06001- 6].