Effect of annealing temperature on Ti/Al/Ni/Au ohmic contacts on undoped AlN films

The Ti/Al/Ni/Au metals were deposited on undoped AlN films by electron beam evaporation. The influence of annealing temperature on the properties of contacts was investigated. When the annealing temperatures were between 800 and 950 °C, the AlN–Ti/Al/Ni/Au contacts became ohmic contacts and the resistance decreased with the increase of annealing temperature. A lowest specific contacts resistance of 0.379 Ω·cm ² was obtained for the sample annealed at 950 °C. In this work, we confirmed that the formation mechanism of ohmic contacts on AlN was due to the formation of Al–Au, Au–Ti and Al–Ni alloys, and reduction of the specific contacts resistance could originate from the formation of Au ₂Ti and AlAu₂ alloys. This result provided a possibility for the preparation of AlN-based high-frequency, high-power devices and deep ultraviolet devices. (paper)