The development of two metallizations based on the solid-phase regrowth principle is presented, namely Pd/Sb(Zn) and Pd/Ge(Zn) on moderately doped In0.53Ga0.47As (p=4×1018 cm-3). Contact resistivities of 23×10-7 and 67×10-7 ?cm2, respectively, have been achieved, where both systems exhibit an effective contact reaction depth of zero and a Zn diffusion depth below 50 nm. Exhibiting resistivities equivalent to the lowest values of Au-based systems in this doping range, especially Pd/Sb(Zn) contacts are superior to them concerning metallurgical stability and contact penetration. Both metallizations have been successfully applied for contacting the base layer of InP/In0.53Ga0.47As heterojunction bipolar transistors.
Cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy, in combination with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and focused beam microdiffraction, was applied to study the solid-state reactions taking place during contact formation of the system Ge(115 nm)/Pd(50 nm)In0.53Ga0.47As. In order to get information about the sequence of the different processes, rapid thermal, annealing experiments in the range 225400 °C were performed. The following features were observed: at 225 °C Pd reacted with the substrate forming the quaternary phase PdxIn0.53Ga0.47As (x 4), and with the Ge-layer forming mainly PdGe and Pd2Ge. Between PdxIn0.53Ga0.47As and In0.53Ga0.47As, a 5 nm thick amorphous Pd-In-Ga-As layer remained, indicating that the first reaction step was solid-state amorphization. After annealing at 350 °C, PdxIn0.53Ga0.47As disappeared and regrowth of In0.53Ga0.47As occured. Finally, at 400 °C, residual Ge from the amorphous top layer diffused to the interface and grew epitaxially on the regrown In0.53Ga0.47As, thus separating the IIIV compound semiconductor from the Pd-Ge reaction products. The interface remained flat, while only about 10 nm of the active In0.53Ga0.47As layer had been modified during the annealing processes.