UV-DEPOSITED SILICON-NITRIDE COUPLED WITH XEF2 SURFACE CLEANING FOR III-V OPTOELECTRONIC DEVICE PASSIVATION

The passivation of InP-based optoelectronic devices is an issue that i s receiving much focus as it is of utmost importance that devices main tain their performance throughout their lifespan. In this paper, we re port on the passivation scheme that we developed recently, based on a pre-deposition in-situ surface cleaning by xenon difluoride (XeF2) fol lowed by a direct UV-enhanced deposition of silicon nitride (SiNx). HF ET transistors as well as photodiodes have been fabricated and passiva ted successfully using this technique.