Reliable Metallization For InP-Based Devices and Oeic’s

Abstract

ABSTRACTWe describe techniques of reliable metallization in InP-based systems for application to discrete and opto-electronic integrated circuits (OEIC’s). Strong metallurgical interaction between Au and InP-based compounds can cause serious contact degradation in light emitting diodes (LED’s). By analyzing this interaction in detail, an improved thin Au/Zn/Au p-contact technique has been developed. The results are compared with Pt/Ti contacts, and it has shown that both provide sufficient reliability under temperature and current stresses in LED’s. We then describe a metallization technique for flip-chip bonding of opto-electronic devices on other semiconductor chips for OEIC applications. An acceptable reaction barrier effect of Pt in AuSn/Pt/Ti metallization structure has been demonstrated and this structure has been used for a high-reliability, flip-chip integrated GalnAs/InP PIN photodiode/GaAs amplifier receiver circuit. We also discuss requirements for metallization for future monolithic OEIC’s by taking up an example of metal-semiconductor-metal photodiodes in InP-based systems.