Nitridization of Semiconductor Surfaces for Improved Properties of Electrical and Optical Devices

A novel approach for improving device performance and device life time is presented that directly seals dangling surface bonds on semiconductor surfaces and eliminates susceptibility to oxidation and other corollaries due to foreign contaminations intrinsic to manufacturing and general handling by forming chemically stable nitrides. The method is broadly applicable to all types of III-V semiconductor devices such as blue laser diodes up to telecommunications or longer wavelengths, as well as other electronic semiconductor applications suffering from performance, reliability and yield limitations. The method takes advantage of the existing group-III atoms in the crystal matrix and is therefore fundamentally different from tradional methods like PECVD (plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition) for fabrication of thicker layers of SiNx and SiOx etc. In general, process chemicals and gases are commonly available in high purity form, but some aspects of the cleanliness of semiconductor surfaces do not depend on the applied chemicals and gases in the fabrication processes but rather on the physical properties of the surface, of which the number of unsaturated dangling bonds is important. Further on, aggressive cleaning and material removal processes such as solvent, plasma etching or high energy ion processes, carry an inherently large risk of introducing crystal damage.