Date of Award

1993

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Abstract

The presence of excessive energy states in the bandgap of III-V semiconductor surfaces is commonly found and has considerably hindered the development of III-V semiconductor technology. Although InP metal-insulator-semiconductor field effect transistors (MISFETs) are attractive switching and driving elements for the InP-based optoelectronic devices which have been widely used for communication applications, interface states of the dielectric/InP structure are known to cause surface Fermi level pinning and drain current drifting, a fact which causes the MISFETs to be unacceptable for any practical usage. In this study, we used a wide range of surface and interface analytical techniques to investigate a gas phase polysulphide passivation method to reduce the surface states on InP, and a remote plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition (RPCVD) technique for SiN{dollar}\sb{lcub}\rm x{rcub}{dollar} deposition. Polysulfide treated Al/SiN{dollar}\sb{lcub}\rm x{rcub}{dollar}/InP metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) diodes with an anneal of 500{dollar}\sp\circ{dollar}C for 15 minutes gave an average intensity state density of 5 {dollar}\times{dollar} 10{dollar}\sp{lcub}11{rcub}{dollar}cm{dollar}\sp{lcub}-2{rcub}{dollar}eV{dollar}\sp{lcub}-1{rcub}{dollar} by the high-low frequency method and 5 {dollar}\times{dollar} 10{dollar}\sp{lcub}10{rcub}{dollar}cm{dollar}\sp{lcub}-2{rcub}{dollar}eV{dollar}\sp{lcub}-1{rcub}{dollar} by Terman analysis. We also found that the sulphur at the interface did not show diffusion into either SiN{dollar}\sb{lcub}\rm x{rcub}{dollar} or InP with such a MIS fabrication process.;A procedure for fabricating InP MISFETs that made use of the polysulphide treated SiN{dollar}\sb{lcub}\rm x{rcub}{dollar}/InP interface was developed. Operational n-channel and p-channel enhancement InP MISFETs with a drain current drift of less than 12% in 24 hours were obtained. In addition, n-channel depletion mode InP MISFETs with a high drain current were fabricated.

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