The damage mechanism of proton irradiation in InP/InGaAs heterostructures was studied. The deep level traps were investigated in detail by deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS), capacitance-voltage (C-V) measurements and SRIM (the stopping and range of ions in matter, Monte Carlo code) simulation for non-irradiated and 3 MeV proton-irradiated samples at a fluence of 5 × 1012 p/cm2. Compared with non-irradiated samples, a new electron trap at EC-0.37 eV was measured by DLTS in post-irradiated samples and was found to be closer to the center of the forbidden band. The trap concentration in bulk, the interface trap charge density and the electron capture cross-section were 4 × 1015 cm-3, 1.8 × 1012 cm-2, and 9.61 × 10-15 cm2, respectively. The deep level trap, acting as a recombination center, resulted in a large recombination current at a lower forward bias and made the forward current increase in InP/InGaAs heterostructures for post-irradiated samples. When the deep level trap parameters were added into the technology computer-aided design (TCAD) simulation tool, the simulation results matched the current-voltage measurements data well, which verifies the validity of the damage mechanism of proton irradiation.
Keywords: InP/InGaAs heterostructure; deep level traps; proton irradiation; recombination current.