Method of fabricating non-etch gas cooled epitaxial stack for group IIIA-N devices

1. A method of fabricating a Group IIIA-N transistor, comprising:

depositing at least a first Group IIIA-N buffer layer on a substrate in a deposition chamber of a deposition system at a first temperature;

depositing at least one Group IIIA-N surface cap layer on said first Group IIIA-N buffer layer in said deposition chamber of said deposition system at a second temperature less than or equal to the first temperature, followed by cooling the substrate 550° C. or less using a cooling process that provides a gas mixture to said deposition chamber continuously to a cool down temperature at which the deposition chamber is vented, the gas mixture including NH 3 and at least one other gas including no more than 40% H 2 by volume, wherein the cooling process using NH 3 and at least one other gas continues to a cool down temperature where the deposition chamber is vented and wherein said gas mixture provides an ambient in said deposition chamber that is non-etching with respect to the cap layer so that at a surface of said cap layer there is (i) a root mean square (rms) roughness of <10 Å and (ii) a pit density for pits greater than 2 nm deep less than 10 pits per square μm with an average pit diameter less than 0.05 μm;

forming a gate dielectric layer on said Group IIIA-N surface cap layer;

forming a metal gate electrode on said gate dielectric layer; and

forming a source having a source contact to said Group IIIA-N surface cap layer and a drain having a drain contact to said Group IIIA-N surface cap layer.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising using the cooling process while cooling the substrate from the first temperature to a cap layer deposition temperature after depositing said first Group IIIA-N buffer layer is before said depositing said Group IIIA-N cap layer.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein said deposition system comprises a metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) system, molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) system, or a hydride vapor phase epitaxy (HVPE) system.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein a thickness of said Group IIIA-N cap layer is in a range between 3 nm and 50 nm.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein said first Group IIIA-N buffer layer and said Group IIIA-N surface cap layer both comprise GaN or AlGaN.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein said substrate comprises sapphire, silicon, or silicon carbide (SiC).

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein said gas mixture consists of N 2 and NH 3 .

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein said gas mixture is free of H 2 .

9. A method of fabricating a Group IIIA-N transistor, comprising:

depositing a Group IIIA-N buffer layer on a substrate in a deposition chamber of a deposition system at a first temperature, and

cooling the substrate to a temperature less than or equal to the first temperature using a gas mixture that includes NH 3 and at least one other gas such that an ambient in said deposition chamber is non-etching with respect to the Group IIIA-N buffer layer; and

depositing a Group IIIA-N cap layer on said first Group IIIA-N buffer layer in said deposition chamber of said deposition system, followed by a cooling process to less than or equal to 550° C. until the deposition chamber is vented, the cooling process utilizing a gas mixture supplied to said deposition chamber including NH 3 and N 2 ;

forming a gate dielectric layer on said Group IIIA-N surface cap layer;

forming a metal gate electrode on said gate dielectric layer; and

forming a source having a source contact to said Group IIIA-N surface cap layer and a drain having a drain contact to said Group IIIA-N surface cap layer.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein said deposition system comprises a metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) system, molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) system, or a hydride vapor phase epitaxy (HVPE) system.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein a thickness of said Group IIIA-N cap layer is 3 nm to 50 nm.

12. The method of claim 9 , wherein said substrate is a silicon substrate.

13. A method of fabricating a Group IIIA-N transistor, comprising:

depositing at least a first Group IIIA-N buffer layer on a substrate in a deposition chamber of a deposition system at a first temperature;

depositing at least one Group IIIA-N surface cap layer on said first Group IIIA-N buffer layer in said deposition chamber of said deposition system at a second temperature less than or equal to the first temperature, followed by cooling the substrate 550° C. or less using a cooling process that provides a gas mixture to said deposition chamber continuously to a cool down temperature at which the deposition chamber is vented, the gas mixture including NH 3 and at least one other gas including no more than 40% H 2 by volume;

forming a gate dielectric layer on said Group IIIA-N surface cap layer;

forming a metal gate electrode on said gate dielectric layer; and

forming a source having a source contact to said Group IIIA-N surface cap layer and a drain having a drain contact with said Group IIIA-N surface cap layer.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein said gas mixture provides an ambient in said deposition chamber that is non-etching with respect to the cap layer so that at a surface of said cap layer there is (i) a root mean square (rms) roughness of less than 1 nm and (ii) a pit density for pits greater than 2 nm deep less than 10 pits per square μm with an average pit diameter less than 0.05 μm.

15. The method of claim 13 , wherein said gas mixture is free of H 2 .