Doping Effects in Ternary Aluminum Gallium Nitride Hetero-Cluster Towards High-Electron-Mobility Transistors for Hydrogen Sensing: A Density Functional Theory Study and Energy-Saving

Abstract

The nitrogen-polar AlGaN structure is expected to have higher carrier density when it is doped with semiconductor atoms of silicon (Si) or germanium (Ge) and noble metals of palladium (Pd) or platinum (Pt). So, the metal-polar AlGaN electronic devices offer various advantages, such as high breakdown voltage and high-temperature operation. A comprehensive investigation on hydrogen grabbing towards formation of hetero-clusters of AlGaN–H, Si–AlGaN–H, Ge–AlGaN–H, Pd–AlGaN–H, Pt–AlGaN–H was carried out using DFT computations at the CAM–B3LYP–D3/6-311+G(d, p) level of theory. The notable fragile signal intensity close to the parallel edge of the nanocluster sample might be owing to silicon or germanium binding induced non-spherical distribution of Si–AlGaN or Ge–AlGaN hetero-clusters. However, a considerable deviation exists from doping atoms of palladium or platinum as electron acceptors on the surface of Pd–AlGaN or Pt–AlGaN hetero-clusters. The doped Si, Ge, Pd, Pt atoms with their nearby N4, N7, N12 atoms in hybrid materials of Si–AlGaN, Ge–AlGaN, Pd–AlGaN, Pt–AlGaN, then N atoms are spin polarized and couple with Si, Ge, Pd, Pt atoms, which result in magnetism. Based on TDOS, the excessive growth technique on doping silicon, germanium, palladium or platinum is a potential approach to designing high efficiency hybrid semipolar gallium nitride devices in a long wavelength zone. The advantages of platinum or palladium over aluminum gallium nitride include its higher electron and hole mobility, allowing platinum or palladium doping devices to operate at higher frequencies than silicon or germanium doping devices. In fact, the study of Si-/Ge-/Pd-/Pt-doped AlGaN hetero-cluster shows promise for a high-performance electronic device and hydrogen gas sensing applications.