Nonspiking ohmic contact to p-GaAs by solid-phase regrowth

A low-resistance and nonspiking contact consisting of a layered structure of Si/Ni(Mg) on p-GaAs is formed by solid-phase regrowth. Backside secondary-ion mass spectrometry and cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy show an initial reaction between Ni and GaAs to form NixGaAs which is later decomposed to form NiSi by reacting with the Si overlayer. This reaction leads to the solid-phase epitaxial regrowth of a p+ -GaAs layer doped with Mg. The total consumption of substrate is limited to a few hundred angstroms. The as-formed ohmic contact structure is uniform and planar with an average specific contact resistivity of ∼7×10−7 Ω cm2 on substrates doped to 8×1018 cm−3. The thermal stability of this contact scheme is also reported.