A systematic study of (NH4)2S passivation (22%, 10%, 5%, or 1%) on the interface properties of the Al2O3/In0.53Ga0.47As/InP system for n-type and p-type In0.53Ga0.47As epitaxial layers

In this work, we present the results of an investigation into the effectiveness of varying ammonium sulphide (NH4)(2)S concentrations in the passivation of n-type and p-type In0.53Ga0.47As. Samples were degreased and immersed in aqueous (NH4)(2)S solutions of concentrations 22%, 10%, 5%, or 1% for 20 min at 295 K, immediately prior to atomic layer deposition of Al2O3. Multi-frequency capacitance-voltage (C-V) results on capacitor structures indicate that the lowest frequency dispersion over the bias range examined occurs for n-type and p-type devices treated with the 10% (NH4)(2)S solution. The deleterious effect on device behavior of increased ambient exposure time after removal from 10% (NH4)(2)S solution is also presented. Estimations of the interface state defect density (D-it) for the optimum 10% (NH4)(2)S passivated In0.53Ga0.47As devices extracted using an approximation to the conductance method, and also extracted using the temperature-modified high-low frequency C-V method, indicate that the same defect is present over n-type and p-type devices having an integrated D-it of similar to 2.5 x 10(12) cm(-2) (+/- 1 x 10(12) cm(-2)) with the peak density positioned in the middle of the In0.53Ga0.47As band gap at approximately 0.37 eV (+/- 0.03 eV) from the valence band edge. Both methods used for extracting D-it show very good agreement, providing evidence to support that the conductance method can be applied to devices incorporating high-k oxides on In0.53Ga0.47As. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi: 10.1063/1.3533959]