LOW-ENERGY PROTON IRRADIATION-INDUCED INTERFACE DEFECTS ON PD N-GAAS SCHOTTKY DIODES AND ITS CHARACTERISTICS/

The effect of low energy proton irradiation induced damage on the near interface of the Pd/n-GaAs Schottky Barrier Diodes (SBDs) has been st udied using I-V and C-V characteristics. The reverse leakage current i ncreases with irradiation fluence. Annealing the irradiated SBDs helps to anneal out the irradiation induced defects. Annealing mechanism of the defects in the irradiated SBDs with different fluences are discus sed. The reverse leakage current is more for the CONTROL SBDs annealed at 673 K, which is attributed to the formation of a thin heavily dope d GaAs layer at the interface. A decrease in the capacitance has been observed in the irradiated and annealed SBDs for the fluences 1 x 10(1 4), 1 x 10(15) and 1 x 10(16) p cm(-2). For higher incident particle f luences (1 x 10(15) and 1 x 10(16) p cm(-2)) a slight increase in the capacitance has been observed compared to 1 x 10(14) p cm(-2) fluence. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.