Semiconductor structure including buffer with strain compensation layers

1. A semiconductor structure comprising:

a substrate; and

a semiconductor buffer structure overlying the substrate;

wherein the semiconductor buffer structure comprises:

a semiconductor body of a gallium nitride material; and

a stack of strain compensation layers wherein the stack of strain compensation layers includes a layer of a first semiconductor material with an in-plane lattice constant that is smaller than a lattice constant of the semiconductor body of a gallium nitride material, wherein the stack of strain compensation layers includes a layer of a second semiconductor material with an in-plane lattice constant that is greater than the lattice constant of the semiconductor body of a gallium nitride material, and wherein the semiconductor buffer structure has a sheet resistance of at least 5,000 ohms/square.

2. The semiconductor structure of claim 1 wherein the semiconductor buffer structure does not include a two-dimensional electron gas at any interface between two layers of the semiconductor buffer structure.

3. The semiconductor structure of claim 1 wherein the semiconductor body comprises GaN, and wherein the stack of strain compensation layers consists essentially of gallium nitride-based materials.

4. The semiconductor structure of claim 3 wherein the first semiconductor material in the stack of strain compensation layers is AlGaN and the second semiconductor material in the stack of strain compensation layers is InGaN.

5. The semiconductor structure of claim 4 further comprising an intermediate layer of GaN between the first and second semiconductor layers of the stack of strain compensation layers.

6. The semiconductor structure of claim 3 further comprising one or more semiconductor layers over the semiconductor buffer structure forming an operative device structure.

7. The semiconductor structure of claim 6 including one or more active devices in the operative device structure.

8. The semiconductor structure of claim 3 including a nucleation layer overlying the substrate, wherein the buffer structure overlies the nucleation layer.

9. The semiconductor structure of claim 8 wherein the substrate comprises silicon.

10. The semiconductor structure of claim 1 wherein the buffer structure comprises a plurality of stacks of strain compensation layers, each of which consists essentially of gallium nitride materials, wherein each stack of strain compensation layers includes a layer of a first semiconductor material with an in-plane lattice constant that is smaller than a lattice constant of the semiconductor body and a layer of a second semiconductor material with an in-plane lattice constant that is greater than the lattice constant of the semiconductor body.

11. The semiconductor structure of claim 10 wherein the semiconductor body of the buffer structure is GaN, and wherein each stack of strain compensation layers is on a respective GaN buffer layer.

12. The semiconductor structure of claim 11 wherein the first semiconductor material in each stack of strain compensation layers is AlGaN and the second semiconductor material in each stack of strain compensation layers is InGaN.

13. The semiconductor structure of claim 12 further comprising one or more semiconductor layers over the semiconductor buffer structure forming an operative device structure that includes one or more active devices.

14. The semiconductor structure of claim 1 wherein the stack of strain compensation layers is a superlattice of alternating layers of the first semiconductor material and the second semiconductor material.

15. The semiconductor structure of claim 14 wherein the superlattice comprises alternating layers of AlGaN and InGaN.

16. The semiconductor structure of claim 15 further comprising one or more semiconductor layers over the semiconductor buffer structure forming an operative device structure that includes one or more active devices.

17. A semiconductor structure comprising:

a substrate; and

a semiconductor buffer structure comprising a sequence of semiconductor layers overlying the substrate, wherein the sequence of semiconductor layers includes a bottom buffer layer and one or more stacks of strain compensation layers overlying the bottom buffer layer, wherein each stack of strain compensation layers includes a layer of a first semiconductor material with an in-plane lattice constant that is smaller than a lattice constant of the bottom buffer layer and a layer of a second semiconductor material with an in-plane lattice constant that is greater than the lattice constant of the bottom buffer layer, and wherein the semiconductor buffer structure has a sheet resistance of at least 5,000 ohms/square.

18. The semiconductor structure of claim 17 wherein the substrate comprises silicon, silicon carbide or sapphire, and the bottom buffer layer comprises a gallium nitride material.

19. The semiconductor structure of claim 17 wherein the bottom buffer layer comprises GaN and each stack of strain compensation layers includes respective compositions of In x Al y Ga (1-x-y) N as the layers of first and second semiconductor materials.

20. The semiconductor structure of claim 19 wherein each stack of strain compensation layers includes an intermediate GaN layer between the layers of first and second semiconductor materials.

21. The semiconductor structure of claim 19 comprising a plurality of stacks of strain compensation layers, wherein each stack of strain compensation layers includes respective compositions of In x Al y Ga (1-x-y) N as the layers of first and second semiconductor materials.

22. The semiconductor structure of claim 21 further including a transition buffer layer of GaN disposed between adjacent stacks of strain compensation layers.

23. The semiconductor structure of claim 19 comprising:

a plurality of stacks of strain compensation layers, wherein each stack of strain compensation layers includes respective compositions of In x Al y Ga (1-x-y) N as the layers of first and second semiconductor materials, each stack of strain compensation layers further including an intermediate GaN layer;

a respective transition buffer layer of GaN disposed between each pair of adjacent stacks of strain compensation layers; and

a top GaN buffer layer overlying an uppermost one of the stacks of strain compensation layers.

24. The semiconductor structure of claim 23 wherein the intermediate GaN layer has a thickness of 100 nm or less, and the transition buffer layer of GaN has a thickness greater than 100 nm.

25. The semiconductor structure of claim 23 further comprising one or more semiconductor layers over the top GaN buffer layer for an operative device structure.

26. The semiconductor structure of claim 17 including a nucleation layer overlying the substrate, wherein the buffer structure overlies the nucleation layer, which has a sheet resistance of at least 5,000 ohms/square.

27. The semiconductor structure of claim 17 wherein at least one of layers of the first or second semiconductor materials in each stack of strain compensated layers has a thickness of between 0.5 nm and 100 nm and is composed of Al x Ga (1-x) N (where 0<x<1) or In x Al y Ga (1-x-y) N (where 0<x<0.15; 0<y<1).

28. The semiconductor structure of claim 17 wherein at least one of layers of the first or second semiconductor materials in each stack of strain compensated layers has a thickness of between 5 nm and 30 nm and is composed of Al x Ga (1-x) N (where 0.1<x<0.4).

29. The semiconductor structure of claim 17 wherein at least one of layers of the first or second semiconductor materials in each stack of strain compensated layers is a superlattice composed of alternating layers of In x Al y Ga (1-x-y) N (where 0<x<0.15; 0<y<1) and GaN, and wherein each layer in the superlattice has a thickness between about 0.5 nm and 100 nm.

30. The semiconductor structure of claim 17 wherein at least one of layers of the first or second semiconductor materials in each stack of strain compensated layers has a thickness of between 0.5 nm to 100 nm and is composed of In x Ga (1-x) N (where 0<x<1) or is composed of In x Al y Ga (1-x-y) N (where 0<x<1; 0<y<0.85).

31. The semiconductor structure of claim 17 wherein at least one of layers of the first or second semiconductor materials in each stack of strain compensated layers has a thickness of between 0.5 nm to 30 nm and is composed of In x Ga (1-x) N (where 0.005<x<0.2).

32. The semiconductor structure of claim 17 wherein at least one of layers of the first or second semiconductor materials in each stack of strain compensated layers is a superlattice composed of alternating layers In x Al y Ga (1-x-y) N (where 0<x<1; 0<y<0.85) and GaN, wherein each layer in the superlattice has a thickness between 0.5 nm and 100 nm.

33. A semiconductor device comprising:

a substrate;

a semiconductor buffer structure comprising a sequence of semiconductor layers overlying the substrate, wherein the sequence of semiconductor layers includes a bottom buffer layer, one or more stacks of strain compensation layers overlying the bottom buffer layer, and a top buffer layer overlying the stacks of strain compensation layers, wherein each stack of strain compensation layers includes a layer of a first semiconductor material with an in-plane lattice constant that is smaller than a lattice constant of the bottom buffer layer and a layer of a second semiconductor material with an in-plane lattice constant that is greater than the lattice constant of the bottom buffer layer; and

one or more semiconductor layers for an operative device structure overlying the top buffer layer,

wherein a sheet resistance of the semiconductor buffer structure is at least 5,000 ohms/square.

34. The semiconductor device of claim 33 including a nucleation layer overlying the substrate, wherein the semiconductor buffer structure overlies the nucleation layer, and wherein a sheet resistance of nucleation layer is at least 5,000 ohms/square.

35. The semiconductor device of claim 33 wherein the top buffer layer is an InN layer that is immediately adjacent to a first free carrier providing barrier layer.

36. A semiconductor structure comprising:

a substrate; and

a semiconductor buffer structure comprising a sequence of semiconductor layers overlying the substrate, wherein the sequence of semiconductor layers includes a bottom buffer layer and one or more stacks of strain compensation layers overlying the bottom buffer layer, wherein each stack of strain compensation layers includes a layer of a first semiconductor material with an in-plane lattice constant that is smaller than a lattice constant of the bottom buffer layer and a layer of a second semiconductor material with an in-plane lattice constant that is greater than the lattice constant of the bottom buffer layer, and wherein the semiconductor buffer structure has a sheet resistance sufficiently high so that a two-dimensional electron gas is not present at any interface between two layers of the semiconductor buffer structure.