Date of Completion
2014
Document Type
Honors College Thesis
Department
Electrical Engineering
Thesis Type
Honors College
First Advisor
Walter Varhue
Keywords
semiconductor, gallium, antimonide, deuterium, thin film
Abstract
In the world today, there exists the need for advances in high speed, energy efficient electronic applications. In the fields of lasers, transistors, and thermophotovoltaic systems, one potential improvement that is currently being explored is the use of gallium antimonide (GaSb), a III-V semiconducting material that has interesting electrical properties. GaSb is a material to be considered because it has a direct band gap of 0.726eV, as well as a relatively high electron mobility (≤ 3000 cm2 V-1 s-1), which makes its use possible in high speed electronic applications [1]. In this research, GaSb will be grown as a thin-film on Si substrates because the cost of pure GaSb substrates is very high relative to that of Si [2]. Although GaSb has a high electron mobility, there exists a native defect in its lattice, causing the material to be intrinsically p-type. Prior research has suggested that doping GaSb with deuterium, an isotope of hydrogen, would correct this defect [3,4]. In a 2006 study performed by Tim Fennessey at the University of Vermont, the passivation of this defect was investigated using van der Pauw Hall measurements. In Fennessey’s research, it was believed that with the addition of hydrogen, samples of GaSb would change from intrinsically p-type to n-type. Although several samples displayed a change in intrinsic carrier type, some did not, and the results were inconclusive. In an effort to clarify the results, this supplemental research seeks to resolve the effects of deuterium on thin-film GaSb devices in order to gain a more comprehensive understanding of semiconducting materials as a whole.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Dao, Justin T., "Electrical Characterization of Deuterium-Doped Gallium Antimonide Grown on Silicon Substrates" (2014). UVM Honors College Senior Theses. 5.
https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/hcoltheses/5