Sintered Cr/Pt and Ni/Au ohmic contacts to B{sub 12}P{sub 2}

Icosahedral boron phosphide (B{sub 12}P{sub 2}) is a wide-bandgap semiconductor possessing interesting properties such as high hardness, chemical inertness, and the reported ability to self-heal from irradiation by high energy electrons. Here, the authors developed Cr/Pt and Ni/Au ohmic contacts to epitaxially grown B{sub 12}P{sub 2} for materials characterization and electronic device development. Cr/Pt contacts became ohmic after annealing at 700 °C for 30 s with a specific contact resistance of 2 × 10{sup −4} Ω cm{sup 2}, as measured by the linear transfer length method. Ni/Au contacts were ohmic prior to any annealing, and their minimum specific contact resistance was ∼l–4 × 10{sup −4} Ω cm{sup 2} after annealing over the temperature range of 500–800 °C. Rutherford backscattering spectrometry revealed a strong reaction and intermixing between Cr/Pt and B{sub 12}P{sub 2} at 700 °C and a reaction layer between Ni and B{sub 12}P{sub 2} thinner than ∼25 nm at 500 °C.