Titanium nitride Schottky-barrier contacts to GaAs

The electrical properties and interface chemistry of ideal titanium nitride Schottky-barrier contacts to GaAs are investigated by using x-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS), current-voltage (I-V), and capacitance-voltage (C-V) techniques. The TiN films were grown on clean n-type GaAs (100) surfaces by reactive evaporation of Ti in a NH3 atmosphere within the XPS system. The TiN-GaAs Schottky-barrier height is 0.83 eV. I-V and C-V measurements were made for a sequence of anneal temperatures up to 700 °C; the electrical properties are nearly ideal up to 600 °C. TiN is found to be a relatively inert nonmetallic alternative Schottky-barrier contact to GaAs that is suitable for high-temperature applications.