Ultrawide bandgap semiconductor heterojunction p–n diodes with distributed polarization-doped p-type AlGaN layers on bulk AlN substrates

Ultrawide bandgap heterojunction p–n diodes with polarization-induced AlGaN p-type layers are demonstrated using plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy on bulk AlN substrates. Current–voltage characteristics show a turn-on voltage of $V bi ≈ 5.5$ V, a minimum room temperature ideality factor of $η ≈ 1.63$⁠, and more than 12 orders of current modulation at room temperature. A stable current operation of the ultrawide bandgap semiconductor diode is measured up to a temperature of 300 °C. The one-sided n⁺–p heterojunction diode design enables a direct measurement of the spatial distribution of polarization-induced mobile hole density in the graded AlGaN layer from the capacitance–voltage profile. The measured average mobile hole density is $p ∼ 5.7 × 10 17$ cm⁻³, in close agreement with what is theoretically expected from distributed polarization doping. Light emission peaked at 260 nm (4.78 eV) observed in electroluminescence corresponds to interband radiative recombination in the n⁺ AlGaN layer. A much weaker deep-level emission band observed at 3.4 eV is attributed to cation-vacancy and silicon complexes in the heavily Si-doped AlGaN layer. These results demonstrate that distributed polarization doping enables ultrawide bandgap semiconductor heterojunction p–n diodes that have wide applications ranging from power electronics to deep-ultraviolet photonics. These devices can operate at high temperatures and in harsh environments.