AlN/GaN and (Al,Ga)N/AlN/GaN two-dimensional electron gas structures grown by plasma-assisted molecular-beam epitaxy

We report on an extensive study of the two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) structures containing AlN layers. It is shown that the presence of large polarization fields in the AlN barrier layer in AlN/GaN heterostructures results in high values of the 2DEG sheet density of up to 3.6×1013 cm−2. Room-temperature sheet resistance of 180 Ω/□ is demonstrated in the AlN/GaN structure with a 35 A AlN barrier. As a result of reduced alloy disorder scattering, low-temperature electron mobility is significantly enhanced in AlN/GaN heterostructures in comparison to AlGaN/GaN structures with similar values of the 2DEG sheet density. The growth of GaN cap layers on top of AlN/GaN structures with relatively thick (∼35 A) AlN barriers is found to lead to a significant decrease in the 2DEG sheet density. However, inserting a thin (∼10 A) AlN layer between AlxGa1−xN and GaN in the AlxGa1−xN/GaN (x∼0.2–0.45) 2DEG structures does not affect the 2DEG sheet density and results in an increase of the low-temperature electron mob...

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