Mapping Defect Density in MBE Grown In0.53 Ga0.47 As Epitaxial Layers on Si Substrate Using Esaki Diode Valley Characteristics

Description

This item from - IEEE Transaction - Components, Circuits, Devices and Systems - Growing good quality III–V epitaxial layers on Si substrate is of utmost importance to produce next generation high-performance devices in a cost effective way. In this paper, using physical analysis and electrical measurements of Esaki diodes, fabricated using molecular beam epitaxy grown In0.53 Ga0.47 As layers on Si substrate, we show that the valley current density is strongly correlated with the underlying epi defect density. Such a strong correlation indicates that the valley characteristics can be used to monitor the epi quality. A model is proposed to explain the experimental observations and is validated using multiple temperature diode I-V data. An excess defect density is introduced within the device using electrical and mechanical stress, both of which are found to have a direct impact on the valley current with a negligible change in the peak current characteristics, qualitatively supporting the model predictions.