Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 February 2011
The formation of ohmic contacts to p-GaAs based on Au-Zn system comprising a TiN diffusion barrier has been investigated using 2 MeV He+ RBS and the specific contact resistance measurements. It has been proved that TiN films deposited by reactive RF bias magnetron sputtering serves two purposes. First it suppresses the arsenic evaporation and thus confines the reaction between AuZn and GaAs. Second, it prevents intermixing between p-GaAs/Au(Zn) ohmic contact and an overlayer of Au.