Sarah Estrada - Engineering

This dissertation describes the n-AlGaAs/p-GaAs/n-GaN heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT), the first transistor formed via wafer fusion. The fusion process was developed as a way to combine lattice-mismatched materials for high-performance electronic devices, not obtainable via conventional all-epitaxial formation methods. Despite the many challenges of wafer fusion, successful transistors were demonstrated and improved, via the optimization of material structure and fusion process conditions. Thus, this project demonstrated the integration of disparate device materials, chosen for their optimal electronic properties, unrestricted by the conventional (and very limiting) requirement of lattice-matching.

By combining an AlGaAs-GaAs emitter-base with a GaN collector, the HBT benefited from the high breakdown voltage of GaN, and from the high emitter injection efficiency and low base transit time of AlGaAs-GaAs. Because the GaAs-GaN lattice mismatch precluded an all-epitaxial formation of the HBT, the GaAs-GaN heterostructure was formed via fusion. This project began with the development of a fusion process that formed mechanically robust and electrically active GaAs-GaN heterojunctions. During the correlation of device electrical performance with a systematic variation of fusion conditions over a wide range (500-750°C, 0.5-2hours), a mid-range fusion temperature was found to induce optimal HBT electrical performance. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) were used to assess possible reasons for the variations observed in device electrical performance. Fusion process conditions were correlated with electrical (I-V), structural (TEM), and chemical (SIMS) analyses of the resulting heterojunctions, in order to investigate the trade-off between increased interfacial disorder (TEM) with low fusion temperature and increased diffusion (SIMS) with high fusion temperature.

The best dc device results (collector output current I_c~2.9 kA/cm² and current gain β~3.5, at V_ce=20V and I_b=10mA) were obtained with an HBT formed via fusion at 600°C for 1hour, with an optimized base-collector design. This was quite an improvement, as compared to an HBT with a simpler base-collector structure, also fused at 600°C for 1hour (I_c~0.83 kA/cm² and β~0.89, at V_ce=20V and I_b=10mA). Fused AlGaAs-GaAs-GaAs HBTs were compared to fused AlGaAs-GaAs-GaN HBTs, demonstrating that the use of a wider bandgap collector (E_g,GaN > E_g,GaAs) did indeed improve HBT performance at high applied voltages, as desired for high-power applications.

• Chapter 0a: Title & Approval Pages
• Chapter 0b: Abstract & Table of Contents
• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Chapter 2: Fusion Process & Analytical Techniques
• Chapter 3: Wafer-fused GaAs-GaN Heterojunctions
• Chapter 4: The First Wafer-fused AlGaAs-GaAs-GaN HBT
• Chapter 5: AlGaAs-GaAs-GaN HBT with Base-Collector Setback
• Chapter 6: AlGaAs-GaAs-GaAs Wafer-fused HBTs
• Chapter 7: Conclusions & Future Work