Effect of compositional interlayers on the vertical electrical conductivity of Si-doped AlN/GaN distributed Bragg reflectors grown on SiC.

We have investigated the effect of strain-compensating interlayers on the vertical electrical conductivity of Si-doped AlN/GaN distributed Bragg reflectors (DBRs). Samples with 10.5 mirror pairs were grown through plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy on SiC. Room-temperature current–voltage characteristics were measured vertically in mesas through 8 of the 10.5 pairs. The sample with no interlayers yields a mean specific series resistance of 0.044 Ω cm² at low current densities, while three samples with 5/5-Å-thick, 2/2-nm-thick, and graded interlayers have resistivities between 0.16 and 0.34 Ω cm². Thus, interlayers impair vertical current transport, and they must be designed carefully when developing conductive DBRs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]