Choice Recommended Title, July 2020 Bringing together material scattered across many disciplines, Semiconductor Radiation Detectors provides readers with a consolidated source of information on the properties of a wide range of semiconductors; their growth, characterization and the fabrication of radiation sensors with emphasis on the X- and gamma-ray regimes. It explores the promise and limitations of both the traditional and new generation of semiconductors and discusses where the future in semiconductor development and radiation detection may lie. The purpose of this book is two-fold; firstly to serve as a text book for those new to the field of semiconductors and radiation detection and measurement, and secondly as a reference book for established researchers working in related disciplines within physics and engineering. Features: The only comprehensive book covering this topic Fully up-to-date with new developments in the field Provides a wide-ranging source of further reference material

The current shortage of Helium-3 proposes a challenge for searching other neutron detection methods to fulfill the increased demand in both industry and academic research applications. Semiconductor radiation detector is one trend of this campaign due to its potential to provide portable, high detection efficiency devices. As a semiconductor material, Gallium Nitride (GaN) was recognized as one of the most promising candidates for radiation detection, especially for operating in harsh environments, mainly due to its superior properties, such as the wide band-gap, large displacement energy, and high thermal stability, etc.

This Third Edition updates a landmark text with the latest findings The Third Edition of the internationally lauded Semiconductor Material and Device Characterization brings the text fully up-to-date with the latest developments in the field and includes new pedagogical tools to assist readers. Not only does the Third Edition set forth all the latest measurement techniques, but it also examines new interpretations and new applications of existing techniques. Semiconductor Material and Device Characterization remains the sole text dedicated to characterization techniques for measuring semiconductor materials and devices. Coverage includes the full range of electrical and optical characterization methods, including the more specialized chemical and physical techniques. Readers familiar with the previous two editions will discover a thoroughly revised and updated Third Edition, including: Updated and revised figures and examples reflecting the most current data and information 260 new references offering access to the latest research and discussions in specialized topics New problems and review questions at the end of each chapter to test readers' understanding of the material In addition, readers will find fully updated and revised sections in each chapter. Plus, two new chapters have been added: Charge-Based and Probe Characterization introduces charge-based measurement and Kelvin probes. This chapter also examines probe-based measurements, including scanning capacitance, scanning Kelvin force, scanning spreading resistance, and ballistic electron emission microscopy. Reliability and Failure Analysis examines failure times and distribution functions, and discusses electromigration, hot carriers, gate oxide integrity, negative bias temperature instability, stress-induced leakage current, and electrostatic discharge. Written by an internationally recognized authority in the field, Semiconductor Material and Device Characterization remains essential reading for graduate students as well as for professionals working in the field of semiconductor devices and materials. An Instructor's Manual presenting detailed solutions to all the problems in the book is available from the Wiley editorial department.

Research into gallium nitride (GaN) has borne fruit and holds further promise for the optoelectronics and electronics industries. Among the fields of active research is exploiting GaN for power electronics, with one example being Schottky barriers as power rectifiers. However, one challenge in implementing GaN-based technologies arises from the device processing and choices involved when fabricating metal/semiconductor contacts. Consequently, a study of metallizations to GaN based on thermodynamics with careful selection of the surface treatment and deposition techniques is of the upmost importance. The first objective of this dissertation was to understand the role of HBr in lessening the contaminants on various semiconductor surfaces. Motivated initially a need to passivate Ge nanostructures, HBr vapor was used to remove the native oxide and passivate a Ge wafer, and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was used to study the surface. For exposures of at least 20 min above the 48% HBr solution, we found a clear reduction in the amount of oxide present. Interestingly, stability against reoxidation in air was greatly improved using longer exposures to HBr vapor, and XPS reveals that bromine is adsorbed onto these surfaces, suggesting that it is physically blocking H2O and O2 molecules from coming into contact and reoxidizing the Ge surface. Given its success as a surface treatment, aqueous HBr was also tested on GaN. The GaN surfaces, examined by XPS, exhibited no noticeable difference in C and O surface contaminants between HBr and HCl, which is widely used for cleaning GaN surfaces. This finding enhanced our confidence in the efficacy of using HCl for surface preparation. The main objective of this dissertation was to choose a pure transition metal, metal alloy, and compound metallization for GaN based on their thermodynamic stability against metallurgical reactions, high work functions, and conductivity. The only pure transition metal in thermodynamic equilibrium with GaN is rhenium (Re). Prior work on Re/n-GaN has demonstrated diodes with good thermal stability, but the diodes were not as high in quality as the ones produced in this dissertation, due in part to improved crystal growth technology as well as improvements in device processing in this dissertation. Re diodes were fabricated to study the effects of deposition, processing, and annealing on the electrical characteristics of the diodes. As-deposited diodes varied dramatically depending on deposition technique. Electron-beam evaporated Re/Au diodes consistently demonstrated low ideality factors (1.02-1.04) and high barrier heights (0.72-0.82 eV), whereas sputtered Re diodes had high ideality factors (1.26-1.73) and low barrier heights (0.38-0.41 eV), likely due to process-induced defects. However, a remarkable improvement was observed in their electrical characteristics when annealed at 500°C for 5 min in which the barrier height improved to 0.74 eV and the ideality factor to 1.02. Compared to baseline palladium (Pd) diodes fabricated on a similar substrate, the Re diodes were more resilient against annealing conditions that degrade their Pd counterparts. Pd diodes consistently showed degradation after a mild thermal excursion (250°C for 2 h) during dielectric deposition, where the barrier height changed from 0.99 eV to 0.92 eV and ideality factor from 1.02 to 1.13. After annealing at 600°C for 5 min (as a direct comparison to Re diodes) the Pd diodes' barrier height changed from 0.92 eV to 0.86 eV and ideality factor changed from 1.13 to 1.56, whereas the Re diodes remained stable. Stacked layers of Ni and Ga were also pursued as a metal gallide metallization given past success of nickel gallide contacts surviving high temperatures better than pure Ni contacts. However, preliminary current-voltage (I-V) characteristics found that our diodes degraded after annealing at 400°C and 600°C, which may be due to the inhomogeneity in Ga deposition, since Ga deposits with an uneven morphology. With some regions containing more Ga than others, Ni may still react in patches. This inhomogeneity across that diode resulted in low barrier heights and high ideality factors. Therefore, it was deemed beneficial to choose another contact to study. MoCxNy diodes deposited via remote plasma atomic layer deposition (PE-ALD) were also investigated as an attractive compound candidate. Not only is MoNx conductive, refractory, and thermally stable on GaN, it has a high work function and exhibits good adhesion to GaN. Films were examined by XPS, grazing incidence x-ray diffraction (GIXRD), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) with energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) to determine their composition and structure. TEM reveals an abrupt interface between MoCxNy and n-GaN, and that MoCxNy adopts a cubic phase. Remarkably, XPS also shows a significant amount of carbon within the single cubic phase. It is hypothesized that our single-phase MoC0.3N0.7 film is a cubic NaCl-type structure with a lattice parameter of 0.42 nm that has C and N atoms occupying half of the sites on one sublattice. The incorporation of C in our film, and its occupation in the cubic crystal, could be playing a role in improving the electrical characteristics. The diodes demonstrated high barrier height (0.87 eV) after an anneal at 600°C for 5 min, with an ideality factor of 1.02 by I-V measurements, revealing potential for a thermally stable Schottky diode. The conclusions drawn and experiments developed augment the understanding of device fabrication, metallization, and processing for contacts to n-GaN applications for high-temperature and high-power electronics.

The first GaN and Related Materials covered topics such as a historical survey of past research, optical electrical and microstructural characterization, theory of defects, bulk crystal growth, and performance of electronic and photonic devices. This new volume updates old research where warranted and explores new areas such as UV detectors, microwave electronics, and Er-doping. This unique follow-up features contributions from leading experts that cover the full spectrum of growth.