Ohmic contact to n-AlGaN through bonding state transition at TiAl interface

We report the optimized ohmic contact to high Al content n-AlGaN through modification of the interfacial bonding state of TiAl alloy. First-principles calculations demonstrate that the change of interfacial bonding state (N rich to Al rich) at the TiAl/n-AlGaN interface is crucial for the formation of low barrier contact. The significant electron-transfer and strong orbital hybridization between the Ti atoms and the nearest Al atoms plays a key role in lowering the contact barrier. After treatment of the TiAl/n-AlGaN sample via rapid thermal annealing, perfectly linear I-V characteristic is achieved and the elemental profile by Auger electron spectroscopy confirms the N-rich-to-Al-rich local state transition in the interfacial layers.