Electrical transport studies of MBE grown InGaN/Si isotype heterojunctions

The temperature dependent electrical transport behavior of n–n InGaN/Si heterostructures grown by plasma-assisted MBE was studied. Structural characteristics of the as-grown InGaN epilayers were evaluated high resolution X-ray diffraction and composition of InGaN was estimated from photoluminescence spectra using standard Vegard's law. Current density–voltage plots (J–V–T) revealed that the ideality factor (η) and Schottky barrier height (SBH) (Φb) are temperature dependent and the incorrect values of the Richardson's constant (A∗∗) produced, suggests an inhomogeneous barrier at the heterostructure interface. The higher value of the ideality factor compared to the ideal value and its temperature dependence suggest that the current transport is mainly dominated by thermionic field emission.

► The temperature dependent electrical transport behavior of InGaN/Si HJs was studied.
► Composition of InGaN was estimated from PL spectra using standard Vegard's law.
► J–V–T revealed that the ideality factor and SBH are temperature dependent.
► The higher value of the ideality factor suggests, the current transport is mainly by TFE.