The GaAs materials and device development has reached the stage where material non-uniformities limit device performance to the extent that circuit yields are so low that only occasionally is a perfectly working chip attainable. A great deal of research is devoted to material growth development. However, very little effort is devoted to gettering in spite of the fact that it is well known that complex Si chips are only possible through extensive use of gettering. It is very likely that complex GaAs will similarly only be attainable if effective gettering methods are developed. The objective of the program is the development of one effective gettering method and an understanding of gettering in GaAs. During the first year of this three year program the PI will measure the effect of damage-induced and stress-induced gettering to determine the best method. During the second year the PI will choose the most promising method and optimize it. Most of the work during the first two years will be done on semi-insulating substrates in order to study the basic gettering mechanism. During the third year the PI will extend the research to directly ion-implanted n-layers to study the gettering effectiveness on these layers.
