Gallium nitride materials and methods
DC CAFCFirst Claim
1. A semiconductor material comprising:
- a silicon substrate;
an intermediate layer comprising aluminum nitride, an aluminum nitride alloy, or a gallium nitride alloy formed directly on the substrate;
a compositionally-graded transition layer formed over the intermediate layer; and
a gallium nitride material layer formed over the transition layer, wherein the semiconductor material forms a PET.
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Abstract
The invention provides semiconductor materials including a gallium nitride material layer formed on a silicon substrate and methods to form the semiconductor materials. The semiconductor materials include a transition layer formed between the silicon substrate and the gallium nitride material layer. The transition layer is compositionally-graded to lower stresses in the gallium nitride material layer which can result from differences in thermal expansion rates between the gallium nitride material and the substrate. The lowering of stresses in the gallium nitride material layer reduces the tendency of cracks to form. Thus, the invention enables the production of semiconductor materials including gallium nitride material layers having few or no cracks. The semiconductor materials may be used in a number of microelectronic and optical applications.
321 Citations
75 Claims
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1. A semiconductor material comprising:
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a silicon substrate;
an intermediate layer comprising aluminum nitride, an aluminum nitride alloy, or a gallium nitride alloy formed directly on the substrate;
a compositionally-graded transition layer formed over the intermediate layer; and
a gallium nitride material layer formed over the transition layer, wherein the semiconductor material forms a PET. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 66)
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29. A method of producing a semiconductor material comprising:
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forming an intermediate layer comprising aluminum nitride, an aluminum nitride alloy, or a gallium nitride alloy directly on a silicon substrate;
forming a compositionally-graded transition layer over the intermediate layer; and
forming a gallium nitride material layer over the transition layer, wherein the semiconductor material forms a FET. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 73, 74, 75)
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72. The method of the intermediate layer has a thickness between about 0.01 micron and 2.0 microns.
Specification