The growth, fabrication, and characterization of a solar-blind A1GaN-based p-i-n back-illuminated photodetector with a high temperature A1N template are reported for the first time. The photodetector was fabricated from multilayer AIx Gal-xN films grown by MOCVD on double-polished c-plane （0001） sapphire substrates. Crack free, high A1 content （0.7） A1GaN multilayer structure,designed for the solar-blind p-i-n back-illuminated photodetector,was grown on a high temperature A1N template without a nuclear layer. The high quality of the epitaxial layers is demonstrated by in-situ optical reflectance monitoring curve, triple-axis X-ray diffraction, and atomic-force microscope. At a 1.8V bias, the processed p-i-n photodetector exhibits a solar-blind photoresponse with a maximum responsivity of 0. 0864A/W at 270nm. The photodetector exhibits a forward turn-on voltage at around 3.5V and a reverse breakdown voltage above 20V, and the leakage current is below 20pA for 2V reverse bias.
We investigate the contact characteristics of bi-layer thin films, Ti（20nm）/Al（200nm） on Si-doped n-type A10.6 Ga0.4 N films grown on sapphire substrate. The surface treatment was aqua regia boiling before metallization and annealing after metallization at different conditions in N2 ambient. High resolution X-ray diffractometery analysis was carried out on the contacts and the surface interfaces of these conditions were compared. A specific contact resistivity pc was determined using the circular transmission line method via current-voltage measurements. A pc of 3.42 × 10^-4 Ω·cm^2 was achieved when annealed at 670℃ for 90s. Then, this ideal ohmic contact was used in back-illuminated solar-blind AlGaN p- i-n detectors and the detectors＇ performances, such as spectral responsivity, dark-current,and breakdown voltage were optimized.
