Background
Gallium nitride (GaN) -based high electron mobility field effect transistor (HEMT) is a novel electronic device based on nitride heterostructure, AlGaN/GaN HEMT material formed by adopting aluminum gallium nitrogen (AlGaN) as potential barrier is a current commonly-used material system, and benefits from stronger polarization characteristic and band gap difference of AlGaN/GaN heterojunction, and the two-dimensional electron gas (2 DEG) surface density in heterojunction quantum well reaches 1012And in the magnitude, the channel electron is controlled by the Schottky gate voltage to realize work. The device has the excellent characteristics of high frequency and high power, is widely applied to the fields of information receiving and transmitting, energy conversion and the like of wireless communication base stations, power electronic devices and the like, and accords with the current development concepts of energy conservation, environmental protection and low carbon.
The AlGaN/GaN heterojunction two-dimensional electron gas mobility is one of key factors influencing the power characteristics of an HEMT device, and the higher carrier mobility is beneficial to improving the working current of the device. The two-dimensional electron gas mobility in the AlGaN/GaN heterojunction is restricted by various scattering mechanisms, and mainly comprises the following steps: lattice scattering, interface scattering, alloy disorder scattering, and the like. At room temperature, the AlGaN/GaN heterojunction 2DEG mobility is generally 1400-1600 cm2/Vs。
Research shows that the AlGaN/GaN HEMT material 2DEG mobility is closely related to the steepness of heterojunction interface components, the higher the Al component on one side of the heterojunction interface AlGaN, the deeper the formed potential well, the stronger the 2DEG confinement, and the smaller the probability of entering the AlGaN layer through the potential barrier, so that alloy disordered scattering is reduced, and the 2DEG mobility is improved. However, in the initial stage of growing the AlGaN barrier layer, since the growth surface temperature is high and reaches 1000 degrees or more, Ga atoms decomposed by the GaN buffer layer may diffuse into the AlGaN barrier layer near the heterojunction interface, and the Al composition may be reduced. As the AlGaN thickness increases, Ga diffusion decreases, and the Al composition gradually rises to the design value and stabilizes. Due to the diffusion of Ga atoms, the Al component of the AlGaN barrier layer close to the channel is lower than the design value, the depth of a potential well of a heterojunction is reduced, the overflow degree of channel electrons is increased, the alloy scattering is increased, and the 2DEG mobility is reduced.
By inserting a layer of 1-2nm AlN between AlGaN/GaN heterojunction, 2DEG mobility can be increased to 2000cm2Over Vs. However, the introduction of the AlN insertion layer obviously raises the barrier height of the surface of the AlGaN/GaN heterojunction, and increases the difficulty of the ohmic contact process in the manufacturing process of the HEMT device. The ohmic contact resistance is the most dominant parasitic resistance of the HEMT device and is one of the key factors affecting the frequency characteristics of the device.
Therefore, how to effectively improve the two-dimensional electron gas mobility of the channel of the HEMT material for the GaN high-frequency power device without influencing the barrier height of the surface of the AlGaN/GaN heterojunction is an important subject of material design and epitaxial process.
Disclosure of Invention
In order to solve the technical problems mentioned in the background technology, namely the problems that the Al component of the heterojunction interface of the AlGaN/GaN HEMT epitaxial material is lower than a design value and the closer to the interface, the larger the deviation is, the invention provides a growth method of the nitride high electron mobility transistor epitaxial material, which overcomes the problem that the Al component of the AlGaN/GaN heterojunction interface is reduced and obviously improves the consistency of the Al component of the AlGaN barrier layer along the growth direction.
In order to achieve the technical purpose, the technical scheme of the invention is as follows:
a buffer layer, a GaN channel layer and an AlGaN barrier layer are sequentially grown on a substrate, the AlGaN barrier layer is grown by a two-step method, a first AlGaN barrier layer is grown by at least one group III source flow gradient process in the first step, a second AlGaN barrier layer is grown by a group III source flow constant process in the second step, and the thickness of the first AlGaN barrier layer is 0-4 nm.
Based on the preferable scheme of the above technical solution, the flow rate of the group III source flow rate constant process adopted in the second step is equal to the flow rate end value of the at least one group III source flow rate gradual change process adopted in the first step.
Based on the preferable scheme of the above technical solution, the at least one group III source flow rate gradual change process adopted in the first step includes three combination modes: the first method is characterized in that the flow of an aluminum source is gradually changed, and the flow of a gallium source is constant; the second method is that the flow of the aluminum source is constant and the flow of the gallium source is gradually changed; and the third is that the flow rates of the aluminum source and the gallium source are gradually changed simultaneously.
Based on the preferable scheme of the technical scheme, the at least one group III source flow rate gradual change process adopted in the first step adopts a flow rate gradual change reduction process for an aluminum source, and the initial value is 1-5 times of the final value; for gallium source, the flow rate is gradually increased, and the initial value is 0.2-1 times of the final value.
Based on the preferable scheme of the above technical solution, the at least one group III source flow rate gradual change process adopted in the first step includes a linear change and a nonlinear change.
Based on the preferable scheme of the technical scheme, the substrate is made of sapphire, Si or SiC.
Based on the preferable scheme of the technical scheme, the buffer layer is made of AlN, GaN or AlGaN.
Adopt the beneficial effect that above-mentioned technical scheme brought:
the invention adopts the two-step method to grow the AlGaN potential barrier, can overcome the problem of the reduction of Al components of the AlGaN/GaN heterojunction brought by the diffusion of Ga atoms to the maximum extent, improve the steepness of the components of the heterojunction interface, reduce the disordered scattering of the 2DEG alloy and further improve the mobility of the 2 DEG. By optimizing the first layer AlGaN barrier process, including parameters such as group III source gradient mode, initial value, and first layer AlGaN thickness, the consistency of the Al component of the barrier layer along the growth direction is improved, and the two-dimensional electron gas mobility of the channel is improved to 1800-2000 cm-2/Vs。
Detailed Description
The technical scheme of the invention is explained in detail in the following with the accompanying drawings.
The invention designs a growth method of a nitride high electron mobility transistor epitaxial material, as shown in figure 1, a buffer layer 2, a GaN channel layer 3, a first AlGaN barrier layer 4 and a second AlGaN barrier layer 5 are sequentially grown on a substrate layer 1 by MBE or MOCVD technology.
The AlGaN barrier layer is grown by adopting a two-step method, the first AlGaN barrier layer is grown by adopting at least one group III source flow gradient process, the second AlGaN barrier layer is grown by adopting a group III source flow constant process, and the thickness of the first AlGaN barrier layer is 0-4 nm.
Preferably, the group III source flow constant process adopted in the second step has a flow equal to the flow end value of the at least one group III source flow gradual process adopted in the first step. The at least one group III source flow rate gradual change process adopted in the first step comprises three combination modes: the first method is characterized in that the flow of an aluminum source is gradually changed, and the flow of a gallium source is constant; the second method is that the flow of the aluminum source is constant and the flow of the gallium source is gradually changed; and the third is that the flow rates of the aluminum source and the gallium source are gradually changed simultaneously. The first step adopts at least one group III source flow gradual change process, and for an aluminum source, the flow gradual change process is adopted, and the initial value is 1-5 times of the final value; for gallium source, the flow rate is gradually increased, and the initial value is 0.2-1 times of the final value. The first step adopts at least one group III source flow gradual change process, and the gradual change mode comprises linear change and nonlinear change.
Preferably, the substrate is made of sapphire, Si or SiC. The buffer layer is made of AlN, GaN or AlGaN.
Example 1
1) Selecting a SiC substrate, and growing by using an MOCVD (metal organic chemical vapor deposition) technology;
2) baking at 1100 ℃ and 100Torr in a hydrogen atmosphere for 10 minutes;
3) introducing ammonia gas and an aluminum source at 1100 ℃, and growing an AlN nucleating layer with the thickness of 100nm on the surface of the substrate;
4) cooling to 1000 ℃, closing an aluminum source, introducing a gallium source, and growing a GaN buffer layer with the thickness of 1.5 um;
5) heating to 1050 ℃ to grow a GaN channel layer with the thickness of 0.5 um;
6) opening an aluminum source, growing a first AlGaN barrier layer, wherein the thickness is 2nm, the flow of the aluminum source is gradually changed from 150ml/min to 50ml/min, and the flow of the gallium source is constant at 10 ml/min;
7) keeping the flow rate of an aluminum source at 50ml/min and the flow rate of a gallium source at 10ml/min constant, and growing a second AlGaN barrier layer with the thickness of 18 nm;
8) closing the aluminum source and the gallium source, and cooling to room temperature.
Example 2
1) Selecting a sapphire substrate, and growing by using an MOCVD (metal organic chemical vapor deposition) technology;
2) baking at 1050 ℃ and 100Torr in a hydrogen atmosphere for 5 minutes;
3) introducing ammonia gas for nitriding for 10 minutes at 1050 ℃ and 100 Torr;
4) cooling to 550 ℃, introducing ammonia gas and a gallium source, and growing a GaN nucleating layer with the thickness of 20nm on the surface of the substrate;
5) heating to 1000 ℃ to grow a GaN buffer layer with the thickness of 1.5 um;
6) heating to 1050 ℃ to grow a GaN channel layer with the thickness of 0.5 um;
7) opening an aluminum source, growing a first AlGaN barrier layer, wherein the thickness is 2nm, the flow of the aluminum source is constant at 50ml/min, and the flow of the gallium source is linearly gradually changed from 5 ml/min to 10 ml/min;
8) keeping the flow rate of an aluminum source at 50ml/min and the flow rate of a gallium source at 10ml/min constant, and growing a second AlGaN barrier layer with the thickness of 18 nm;
9) closing the aluminum source and the gallium source, and cooling to room temperature.
Example 3
1) Selecting a Si substrate, and growing by using an MOCVD (metal organic chemical vapor deposition) technology;
2) baking at 1100 ℃ and 100Torr in a hydrogen atmosphere for 10 minutes;
3) introducing an aluminum source at 1100 ℃, and pre-depositing aluminum on the surface of the substrate for 10 seconds;
4) introducing ammonia gas at 1100 ℃, and growing an AlN nucleating layer with the thickness of 300nm on the surface of the substrate;
5) introducing a gallium source, and growing an AlGaN buffer layer with the thickness of 1.2 um;
6) closing an aluminum source, and growing a 0.5um thick GaN channel layer;
7) opening an aluminum source, growing a first AlGaN barrier layer, wherein the thickness is 2nm, the flow of the aluminum source is gradually changed from 150ml/min to 50ml/min, and the flow of the gallium source is constant at 10 ml/min;
8) keeping the flow rate of an aluminum source at 50ml/min and the flow rate of a gallium source at 10ml/min constant, and growing a second AlGaN barrier layer with the thickness of 18 nm;
9) closing the aluminum source and the gallium source, and cooling to room temperature.
In the process control, the gradual change of the group III source flow is realized by setting three parameters of the initial value, the final value and the gradual change mode of the aluminum source and the gallium source flow, as shown in fig. 2 to fig. 4. In FIG. 2, (a) in order to keep the gallium source flow constant, the aluminum source flow is linearly changed; in FIG. 2, (b) in order to keep the gallium source flow constant, the aluminum source flow is non-linearly changed; in FIG. 3, (a) in order to keep the aluminum source flow constant, the gallium source flow is linearly changed gradually; in FIG. 3, (b) in order to keep the aluminum source flow constant, the gallium source flow is non-linearly changed; in FIG. 4, (a) to (d) show the aluminum source flow rate and the gallium source flow rate gradually changed simultaneously.
The invention adopts a two-step method to grow the AlGaN barrier layer, and aims to improve the consistency of Al components of the barrier layer along the growth direction. The gradient mode and the initial value of the AlGaN of the first layer need to be optimized and formulated according to different types of epitaxial equipment and growth processes, and the consistency of Al components of the AlGaN barrier layer along the growth direction is taken as an evaluation standard.
The embodiments are only for illustrating the technical idea of the present invention, and the technical idea of the present invention is not limited thereto, and any modifications made on the basis of the technical scheme according to the technical idea of the present invention fall within the scope of the present invention.