2012/12/05 by Damon J. Carrad, Carrad, D. J., A. M. Burke +15
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #GaN-based semiconductor devices and materials #Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci) #Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall) #Semiconductor Quantum Structures and Devices #Semiconductor materials and devices
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1212.0930
openalex publication_date 2012/12/05 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We have studied the efficacy of (NH4)2Sx surface passivation on the (311)A GaAs surface. We report XPS studies of simultaneously-grown (311)A and (100) heterostructures showing that the (NH4)2Sx solution removes surface oxide and sulfidizes both surfaces. Passivation is often characterized using photoluminescence measurements, we show that while (NH4)2Sx treatment gives a 40 - 60 x increase in photoluminescence intensity for the (100) surface, an increase of only 2 - 3 x is obtained for the (311)A surface. A corresponding lack of reproducible improvement in the gate hysteresis of (311)A heterostructure transistor devices made with the passivation treatment performed immediately prior to gate deposition is also found. We discuss possible reasons why sulfur passivation is ineffective for (311)A GaAs, and propose alternative strategies for passivation of this surface.