Performance and reliability characteristics of GaAs planar doped barrier detector diodes using carbon-doped acceptor spikes grown by molecular beam epitaxy

Significant improvements in the reliability as well as yield and reproducibility of GaAs planar doped barrier (PDB) microwave detector diodes have been achieved by substituting carbon-doped acceptor regions in place of conventional beryllium acceptor dopant. The superior characteristics of the C-doped PDB diodes are thought to be related to the hyperabrupt and stable carbon acceptor doping spikes (10-60 A) obtained in the n⁺-i-p⁺-i-n⁺ doping profile grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). Mesa geometry PDB diodes (10-20 micron diameter) in micropill packages were RF tested at 10 and 35 GHz. Excellent tangential sensitivity up to -58 dBm was measured with a detector video impedance of 2-50 kohms depending upon barrier height. The electrostatic discharge (ESD) failure threshold voltages were found to be much higher for the PDB diodes (3500 V) in comparison to Schottky detector diodes (300 V)