Nickel-alloy deposition processes have been developed in research conducted under IRT Nanoelec’s Photonics program. The purpose of the research was to develop contacts compatible with silicon. Specifically, a Ni2P alloy was obtained by plasma abrasion of an alloy target. The processes were then used to make contacts on n-InP and p-InGaAs in electrical testing structures. The contact resistivity measurements obtained were lower than the target value, confirming the choice of the material as a suitable replacement for the noble-metal contacts traditionally used for III-V lasers.
