Novel materials technology for high conductivity p-type AlGaN based on AlxGa(1-x)N / AlyGa(1-y)N superlattices

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will develop a highly conductive p-type AlGaN by construction of AlGaN superlattices. The material p-type AlGaN is key to many optoelectronic and some electronic semiconductor devices. Many characteristics of semiconductor devices containing p-type AlGaN (that is, power efficiency, maximum power, noise properties, maximum operating temperature, heating of the device and reliability) depend on the resistivity of this layer. In this Phase I project, a novel approach for a low-resistivity p-type AlGaN is proposed, namely p-type AlxGa1-xN / AlyGa1-yN superlattices. This approach is based on exploiting potential variations induced by the superlattice and on the polarization fields occurring in the AlGaN material system. The commercial applications of this project will be in the market for electronics and optoelectronic devices. Examples of such devices include bipolar transistors, lasers, LEDs, and photodetectors