Investigation of the effect of different types of SiN layers and cap-GaN on the surface electronic states of AlGaN/GaN heterostructures with 2DEG using X-ray and UV photoelectron spectroscopy

Determining the effect of different crystalline and amorphous passivation layers on the electronic states and surface properties of III-nitride heterostructures is an important task from the point of view of improving the performance of modern microwave and power electronic devices. In the present work the effect of in situ deposited gallium nitride and silicon nitride passivation layers on the surface electronic states of AlGaN/GaN heterostructures with a two-dimensional electron gas is investigated using the X-ray, ultraviolet and angleresolved ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS, UPS, ARUPS) techniques. A thorough analysis of the experimental UPS spectra was carried out, the primary photoelectrons were extracted from the experimental spectra and the contribution of the electron states on the surface in the energy range of the AlGaN bandgap was identified. It was found that the density of states on the surface decreases by about an order of magnitude in the AlGaN bandgap during the formation of a silicon nitride layer. For the first time, it was found that a significant decrease in the density of surface states (up to a factor of 6) is observed even at extremely low thickness of the SiN ordered layer formation with the (root 3 x root 3)R30 degrees superstructure.