Effect of proton irradiation on 2DEG in AlGaN/GaN heterostructures

Abstract

Low temperature Hall effect measurements were carried on AlGaN/GaN micro-Hall effect sensors before and after irradiation with 380 keV and fluence of 1014 protons/cm2 protons. The sheet electron density after irradiation did not show significant changes but there was a dramatic decrease in the electron mobility of the heterostructures. Prior to irradiation, the observation of well-defined Landau plateaus in the Hall resistance and Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations (SdH) at 4.5 T was indicative of the high quality the heterojunction confining the two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) at the AlGaN/GaN interface of micro-Hall effect sensors. In contrast, the Landau plateaus disappeared after irradiation and the threshold magnetic field required for the observation of the SdH increased, which was accompanied by a decrease of the electron mobility. Temperature dependent magnetoresistance measurements were used to deduce the effective mass and the quantum scattering time before irradiation. A negative magnetoresistance was observed at low magnetic fields which is related to weak localization and parabolic negative magnetoresistance attributed to electron-electron interaction in both samples.