Electrical effects of N2 plasma exposure on dry-etch damage in p- and n-GaN Schottky diodes

Exposure of dry-etch damaged p- and n-GaN to a N-2 plasma at elevated temperatures (175-350 degreesC) is found to produce partial recovery of the electrical properties of the near-surface region. The recovery is due to two mechanisms an annealing effect and a nitridation of the initially N-2 deficient surface. A degree of surface smoothing was also obtained with N-2 plasma exposure. The extent of the damage recovery is less than complete for both conductivity types of GaN. (C) 2001 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.