Aluminum nitride (AlN) is an ultrawide-bandgap semiconductor with potential for radiation-hardened devices in extreme environments. This study investigates single-event effects in AlN Schottky barrier diodes (SBDs) using a pulsed-laser single-event effects technique, addressing a significant gap in AlN radiation effects research. Two types of lateral SBDs were employed for this study; in the first, Ti/Au and transparent Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) were used as the Ohmic and Schottky contacts, respectively, and in the second, ITO was used for both the Ohmic and Schottky contacts. SBDs were irradiated with 350 nm laser pulses, simulating ionizing radiation via two-photon absorption. Single-event transients were recorded, revealing fast decay constants (∼20 ps), suggesting high carrier recombination rates within the AlN material. Spatial scans showed maximum charge collection near the ITO Schottky contact edge, with significantly reduced collection under the ITO, attributed to lower laser light transmission. Increasing reverse bias and laser pulse energy led to an increased laser-induced leakage current. SBDs in this study underwent laser-induced catastrophic single-event burnout (SEB) at a reverse bias of 160 V, which is significantly below the 4 kV breakdown voltage. The findings highlight AlN’s vulnerability to single-event effects and the need for further investigation into its radiation response, including simulations and material characterization to understand electric field distributions, recombination center behavior, and SEB mechanisms.
Khachatrian et al. (Mon,) studied this question.
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