Parasitic channel mitigation using rare-earth oxide and/or rare-earth nitride diffusion barrier regions

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9673281-B2
Application number	US-201514847265-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 8, 2015
Priority date	Sep 8, 2015
Publication date	Jun 6, 2017
Grant date	Jun 6, 2017

Abstract

III-nitride materials are generally described herein, including material structures comprising III-nitride material regions and silicon-containing substrates. Certain embodiments are related to gallium nitride materials and material structures comprising gallium nitride material regions and silicon-containing substrates.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A semiconductor structure, comprising:
a substrate comprising silicon and comprising at least a layer having a resistivity of greater than 10 2 Ohms-cm;
a diffusion barrier region comprising an erbium oxynitride, a gadolinium oxynitride, a cerium oxynitride, and/or a yttrium oxynitride located over a surface of the substrate; and
a III-nitride material region located over the diffusion barrier region.

2. The semiconductor structure of claim 1 , wherein the diffusion barrier region has a thickness of less than about 200 nm.

3. The semiconductor structure of claim 1 , wherein the peak of the sum of the concentrations of Group III species in the substrate is less than about 10 17 /cm 3 .

4. The semiconductor structure of claim 1 , wherein the peak of the sum of the concentrations of Al, Ga, and In in the substrate is less than about 10 17 /cm.

5. The semiconductor structure of claim 1 , wherein the peak concentration of Al, Ga, and/or In in the substrate is less than about 10 17 /cm 3 .

6. The semiconductor structure of claim 1 , wherein the substrate comprises a surface region associated with the surface of the substrate, and the surface region comprises a low-conductivity parasitic channel or the substrate is free of a parasitic channel.

7. The semiconductor structure of claim 6 , wherein the low-conductivity parasitic channel has a total integrated surface region charge of less than about 10 12 /cm 2 .

8. The semiconductor structure of claim 6 , wherein the low-conductivity parasitic channel has a peak free carrier concentration that is less than about 10 17 /cm 3 .

9. The semiconductor structure of claim 1 , wherein the substrate is a silicon substrate.

10. The semiconductor structure of claim 9 , wherein the substrate is a bulk silicon wafer.

11. The semiconductor structure of claim 1 , wherein the substrate is a silicon carbide substrate.

12. The semiconductor structure of claim 1 , wherein the III-nitride material region comprises GaN.

13. The semiconductor structure of claim 1 , wherein the semiconductor structure comprises a transistor located over the substrate.

14. The semiconductor structure of claim 1 , wherein the III-nitride material region comprises a III-nitride device region.

15. A method of forming a semiconductor structure, comprising:
forming a diffusion barrier region comprising an erbium oxynitride, a gadolinium oxynitride, a cerium oxynitride, and/or a yttrium oxynitride over a substrate comprising silicon, the substrate comprising at least a layer having a resistivity of greater than 10 2 Ohms-cm; and
forming a III-nitride material region over the diffusion barrier region.

16. A semiconductor structure comprising:
a silicon-on-insulator substrate and comprising at least a layer having a resistivity of greater than 10 2 Ohms-cm;
a diffusion barrier region comprising a rare-earth oxide and/or a rare-earth nitride located over a surface of the substrate; and
a III-nitride material region located over the diffusion barrier region.

Assignees

• M/A-Com Tech Solutions Holdings Inc
• Macom Tech Solutions Holdings Inc

Inventors

• Linthicum Kevin J
• Roberts John Claassen

Classifications

• H10P30/208

  of electrically inactive species · CPC title

• H10P30/204

  into Group IV semiconductors · CPC title

• H10P30/22

  using masks · CPC title

• H10P14/3416

  Nitrides · CPC title

• H10P14/3414

  being group IIIA-VIA materials · CPC title