Interface Reactions and Electrical Characteristics of Au/GaSb Contacts

The reaction of Au with GaSb occurs at a relatively low temperature (100 C). Upon annealing, a AuSb{sub 2} compound and several Au-Ga phases are produced. Phase transitions occur toward higher Ga concentration with increasing annealing temperatures. Furthermore, the depth of the contact also increases with increased annealing temperature. They found that the AuSb{sub 2} compound forms on the GaSb surface, with the compound crystal partially ordered with respect to the substrate. The transition of Schottky- to ohmic-contact behavior in Au/n-type GaSb occurs simultaneously with the formation of the AuGa compound at about a 250 C annealing temperature. This ohmic contact forms without the segregation of dopants at the metallic compound/GaSb interface. Therefore it is postulated that transition from Schottky- to ohmic-contact behavior is obtained through a series of tunneling transitions of electrons through defects in the depletion region in the Au/n-type GaSb contacts. Contact resistivities of 6-7 x 10{sup -6} {Omega}-cm{sup 2} were obtained with the annealing temperature between 300 and 350 C for 30 seconds. In Au/p-type GaSb contacts, the resistivity was independent of the annealing temperature. This suggested that the carrier transport in p-type contact dominated by thermionic emission