Stable high temperature tantalum silicide Schottky barrier on gallium arsenide

The stability of sputtered tantalum silicide contacts on gallium arsenide annealed at high temperatures was evaluated. Ta silicide diodes on n (1.9×10¹⁷cm^-3, 0.23 µm)/n⁺GaAs were annealed at temperatures from 375°C to 800°C. Results showed that the ideality factor, barrier height and reverse breakdown voltage remained stable at values of 1.1, 0.78V and 9V, respectively. A comparison of Auger sputtering profiles of 800°C annealed and as-deposited Ta silicide contacts on GaAs indicated that there was no observable interdiffusion between Ta silicide and GaAs.