Evolution of surface morphology of alloyed AuGe/Ni/Au ohmic contacts to GaAs microwave FETs

During post-deposition alloying of AuGe/Ni/Au ohmic contacts to microwave transistors, there is interdiffusion of alloy materials and GaAs into each other. Outdiffusion from substrate greatly influences the surface roughness of the contacts as a function of alloying temperature. During our experiments, we have observed that the RMS roughness of the contact surface followed the trend of contact resistance with alloying temperature. We seek to explain this evolution of surface morphology using a model involving the phenomena of coalescence and outdiffusion occurring simultaneously.