Dislocations as quantum wires: Buffer leakage in AlGaN/GaN heterostructures

Buffer leakage in aluminum gallium nitride/gallium nitride (AlGaN/GaN) heterostructure transistors is recognized as an issue that has deleterious consequences on device performance for high-power, high-frequency transistors and has been related to the presence of uncharged threading screw dislocations. In this study, we demonstrate that measurements of buffer leakage in AlGaN/GaN heterostructures grown on bulk gallium nitride (GaN) substrates are consistent with a mechanism based on the concept of dislocations acting as quantum wires in series with unintentional silicon (Si) impurity incorporation at the bulk GaN substrate/GaN buffer interface. The number of electronic channelsNdeduced from the leakage data using Landauer’s formula for the quantum resistance ofNelectronic channels is consistent with the number of dislocations along the ohmic contact pads determined from panchromatic cathodoluminescence and x-ray diffraction measurements of the dislocation density. This mechanism is consistent with Shockley’s suggestion that dislocations can act as one-dimensional conductors due to the presence of edge states along the dislocation core.