Method for fabricating ohmic contacts on semiconducting diamond

Claim 1

A method of fabricating ohmic contacts on semiconducting diamond comprising the steps of: depositing a carbide forming metal over an exposed surface of said semiconducting diamond; depositing a corrosion resistant metal over said carbide forming metal; and heating said semiconducting diamond, said carbide forming metal, and said corrosion resistant metal in an environment inert to said carbide forming and corrosion resistant metals at a temperature ranging from 350 to 1200 degrees Celsius.

Claim 2

A method of fabricating ohmic contacts on semiconducting diamond comprising the steps of: depositing a carbide forming metal over an exposed surface of said semiconducting diamond; depositing a corrosion resistant metal over said carbide forming metal; and heating said semiconducting diamond, said carbide forming metal, and said corrosion resistant metal in an environment inert to said carbide forming and corrosion resistant metals at a temperature ranging from 350 to 1200 degrees Celsius.

Claim 6

A method of fabricating ohmic contacts on semiconducting diamond comprising the steps of: depositing a carbide forming metal over an exposed surface of said semiconducting diamond; depositing at least one layer of an intermediate metal over said carbide forming metal; depositing a corrosion resistant metal over said intermediate metal; and heating said semiconducting diamond, said carbide forming metal, said intermediate metal, and said corrosion resistant metal in an environment inert to said carbide forming, intermediate, and corrosion resistant metals and at a temperature ranging from 350 to 1200 degrees Celsius.

Claim 7

A method of fabricating ohmic contacts on semiconducting diamond comprising the steps of: depositing a carbide forming metal over an exposed surface of said semiconducting diamond; depositing at least one layer of an intermediate metal over said carbide forming metal; depositing a corrosion resistant metal over said intermediate metal; and heating said semiconducting diamond, said carbide forming metal, said intermediate metal, and said corrosion resistant metal in an environment inert to said carbide forming, intermediate, and corrosion resistant metals and at a temperature ranging from 350 to 1200 degrees Celsius.

Claim 13

A method of fabricating ohmic contacts on semiconducting diamond comprising the steps of: forming a film of an insulating buffer on a surface of said semiconducting diamond; forming a layer of photoresist over said insulating buffer; placing a pattern mask having a pattern of substantially opaque and transparent areas over said photoresist layer; exposing selected portions of said photoresist to light transmitted through said transparent areas of said pattern; lifting said pattern mask off of said photoresist; removing said selected portions of said photoresist exposed to said light in order to expose said insulating buffer previously overlain by said selected portions of said photoresist; removing portions of said insulating buffer previously overlain by said portions of said photoresist exposed to said light in order to expose selected areas of said semiconducting diamond surface; depositing a carbide forming metal over said exposed selected areas of said surface of said semiconducting diamond, said carbide forming metal selected from the group consisting essentially of tungsten, molybdenum, chromium, vanadium, niobium, tantalum, titanium, nickel, cobalt, iron, manganese, aluminum, silicon, boron, zirconium, and hafnium; depositing a corrosion resistant metal over said carbide forming metal, said corrosion resistant metal selected from the group consisting essentially of gold, platinum, palladium, iridium, silver, copper, nickel, and chromium; removing said photoresist so that said carbide forming and corrosion resistant metals overlying said photoresist are removed; and heating said semiconducting diamond, said carbide forming metal, and said corrosion resistant metal to a temperature ranging from 350 to 1200 degrees Celsius in an environment inert to said carbide forming and corrosion resistant metals.

Claim 14

A method of fabricating ohmic contacts on semiconducting diamond comprising the steps of: forming a film of an insulating buffer on a surface of said semiconducting diamond; forming a layer of photoresist over said insulating buffer; placing a pattern mask having a pattern of substantially opaque and transparent areas over said photoresist layer; exposing selected portions of said photoresist to light transmitted through said transparent areas of said pattern; lifting said pattern mask off of said photoresist; removing said selected portions of said photoresist exposed to said light in order to expose said insulating buffer previously overlain by said selected portions of said photoresist; removing portions of said insulating buffer previously overlain by said portions of said photoresist exposed to said light in order to expose selected areas of said semiconducting diamond surface; depositing a carbide forming metal over said exposed selected areas of said surface of said semiconducting diamond, said carbide forming metal selected from the group consisting essentially of tungsten, molybdenum, chromium, vanadium, niobium, tantalum, titanium, nickel, cobalt, iron, manganese, aluminum, silicon, boron, zirconium, and hafnium; depositing a corrosion resistant metal over said carbide forming metal, said corrosion resistant metal selected from the group consisting essentially of gold, platinum, palladium, iridium, silver, copper, nickel, and chromium; removing said photoresist so that said carbide forming and corrosion resistant metals overlying said photoresist are removed; and heating said semiconducting diamond, said carbide forming metal, and said corrosion resistant metal to a temperature ranging from 350 to 1200 degrees Celsius in an environment inert to said carbide forming and corrosion resistant metals.

Claim 19

A method of fabricating ohmic contacts on semiconducting diamond comprising the steps of: forming a film of an insulating buffer on a surface of said semiconducting diamond; forming a layer of photoresist over said insulating buffer; placing a pattern mask having a pattern of substantially opaque and transparent areas over said photoresist layer; exposing selected portions of said photoresist to light transmitted through said transparent areas of said pattern to transform said photoresist exposed to said light into developed photoresist; lifting said pattern mask off of said photoresist; removing said selected portions of said photoresist exposed to said light in order to expose said insulating buffer previously overlain by said selected portions of said photoresist in order to expose selected areas of said semiconducting diamond surface; removing portions of said insulating buffer previously overlain by said photoresist exposed to said light in order to expose selected areas of said semiconducting diamond surface; depositing a carbide forming metal over said exposed selected areas of said surface of said semiconducting diamond, said carbide forming metal selected from the group consisting essentially of tungsten, molybdenum, chromium, vanadium, niobium, tantalum, titanium, nickel, cobalt, iron, manganese, aluminum, silicon, boron, zirconium, and hafnium; depositing at least one layer of an intermediate metal over said carbide forming metal; depositing a corrosion resistant metal over said intermediate metal, said corrosion resistant metal selected from the group consisting essentially of gold, platinum, palladium, iridium, silver, copper, nickel, and chromium; removing said photoresist so that said carbide forming, intermediate, and corrosion resistant metals overlying said photoresist are removed; and heating said semiconducting diamond, said carbide forming metal, said intermediate metal, and said corrosion resistant metal to a temperature from 350 to 1200 degrees Celsius in an environment inert to said carbide forming, intermediate, and corrosion resistant metals.

Claim 20

A method of fabricating ohmic contacts on semiconducting diamond comprising the steps of: forming a film of an insulating buffer on a surface of said semiconducting diamond; forming a layer of photoresist over said insulating buffer; placing a pattern mask having a pattern of substantially opaque and transparent areas over said photoresist layer; exposing selected portions of said photoresist to light transmitted through said transparent areas of said pattern to transform said photoresist exposed to said light into developed photoresist; lifting said pattern mask off of said photoresist; removing said selected portions of said photoresist exposed to said light in order to expose said insulating buffer previously overlain by said selected portions of said photoresist in order to expose selected areas of said semiconducting diamond surface; removing portions of said insulating buffer previously overlain by said photoresist exposed to said light in order to expose selected areas of said semiconducting diamond surface; depositing a carbide forming metal over said exposed selected areas of said surface of said semiconducting diamond, said carbide forming metal selected from the group consisting essentially of tungsten, molybdenum, chromium, vanadium, niobium, tantalum, titanium, nickel, cobalt, iron, manganese, aluminum, silicon, boron, zirconium, and hafnium; depositing at least one layer of an intermediate metal over said carbide forming metal; depositing a corrosion resistant metal over said intermediate metal, said corrosion resistant metal selected from the group consisting essentially of gold, platinum, palladium, iridium, silver, copper, nickel, and chromium; removing said photoresist so that said carbide forming, intermediate, and corrosion resistant metals overlying said photoresist are removed; and heating said semiconducting diamond, said carbide forming metal, said intermediate metal, and said corrosion resistant metal to a temperature from 350 to 1200 degrees Celsius in an environment inert to said carbide forming, intermediate, and corrosion resistant metals.

Claim 27

A method of fabricating ohmic contacts on semiconducting diamond comprising the steps of: forming a film of an insulating buffer on a surface of said semiconducting diamond; forming a layer of photoresist over said insulating buffer; placing a pattern mask having a pattern of substantially opaque and transparent areas over said photoresist layer; exposing selected portions of said photoresist to light transmitted through said transparent areas of said pattern so that said photoresist includes unexposed portions of said photoresist; lifting said pattern mask off of said photoresist; removing said unexposed portions of said photoresist in order to expose said insulating buffer previously overlain by said unexposed portions of said photoresist; removing portions of said insulating buffer previously overlain by said unexposed portions of said photoresist in order to expose selected areas of said semiconducting diamond surface; depositing a carbide forming metal over said exposed selected areas of said surface of said semiconducting diamond, said carbide forming metal selected from the group consisting essentially of tungsten, molybdenum, chromium, vanadium, niobium, tantalum, titanium, nickel, cobalt, iron, manganese, aluminum, silicon, boron, zirconium, and hafnium; depositing a corrosion resistant metal over said carbide forming metal, said corrosion resistant metal selected from the group consisting essentially of gold, platinum, palladium, iridium, silver, copper, nickel, and chromium; removing remaining portions of said photoresist so that said carbide forming and corrosion resistant metals overlying said photoresist are removed; and heating said semiconducting diamond, said carbide forming metal, and said corrosion resistant metal to a temperature ranging from 350 to 1200 degrees Celsius in an environment inert to said carbide forming and corrosion resistant metals.

Claim 28

A method of fabricating ohmic contacts on semiconducting diamond comprising the steps of: forming a film of an insulating buffer on a surface of said semiconducting diamond; forming a layer of photoresist over said insulating buffer; placing a pattern mask having a pattern of substantially opaque and transparent areas over said photoresist layer; exposing selected portions of said photoresist to light transmitted through said transparent areas of said pattern so that said photoresist includes unexposed portions of said photoresist; lifting said pattern mask off of said photoresist; removing said unexposed portions of said photoresist in order to expose said insulating buffer previously overlain by said unexposed portions of said photoresist; removing portions of said insulating buffer previously overlain by said unexposed portions of said photoresist in order to expose selected areas of said semiconducting diamond surface; depositing a carbide forming metal over said exposed selected areas of said surface of said semiconducting diamond, said carbide forming metal selected from the group consisting essentially of tungsten, molybdenum, chromium, vanadium, niobium, tantalum, titanium, nickel, cobalt, iron, manganese, aluminum, silicon, boron, zirconium, and hafnium; depositing a corrosion resistant metal over said carbide forming metal, said corrosion resistant metal selected from the group consisting essentially of gold, platinum, palladium, iridium, silver, copper, nickel, and chromium; removing remaining portions of said photoresist so that said carbide forming and corrosion resistant metals overlying said photoresist are removed; and heating said semiconducting diamond, said carbide forming metal, and said corrosion resistant metal to a temperature ranging from 350 to 1200 degrees Celsius in an environment inert to said carbide forming and corrosion resistant metals.

Claim 33

A method of fabricating ohmic contacts on semiconducting diamond comprising the steps of: forming a film of an insulating buffer on a surface of said semiconducting diamond; forming a layer of photoresist over said insulating buffer; placing a pattern mask having a pattern of substantially opaque and transparent areas over said photoresist layer; exposing selected portions of said photoresist to light transmitted through said transparent areas of said pattern so that said photoresist includes unexposed portions of said photoresist; lifting said pattern mask off of said photoresist; removing said unexposed portions of said photoresist in order to expose said insulating buffer previously overlain by said unexposed portions of said photoresist; removing portions of said insulating buffer previously overlain by said unexposed portions of said photoresist in order to expose selected areas of said semiconducting diamond surface; depositing a carbide forming metal over said exposed selected areas of said surface of said semiconducting diamond, said carbide forming metal selected from the group consisting essentially of tungsten, molybdenum, chromium, vanadium, niobium, tantalum, titanium, nickel, cobalt, iron, manganese, aluminum, silicon, boron, zirconium, and hafnium; depositing at least one layer of an intermediate metal over said carbide forming metal; depositing a corrosion resistant metal over said intermediate metal, said corrosion resistant metal selected from the group consisting essentially of gold, platinum, palladium, iridium, silver, copper, nickel, and chromium; removing remaining portions of said photoresist so that said carbide forming, intermediate, and corrosion resistant metals overlying said photoresist are removed; heating said semiconducting diamond, said carbide forming metal, said intermediate metal, and said corrosion resistant metal to a temperature ranging from 350 to 1200 degrees Celsius in an environment inert to said carbide forming, intermediate, and corrosion resistant metals.

Claim 34

A method of fabricating ohmic contacts on semiconducting diamond comprising the steps of: forming a film of an insulating buffer on a surface of said semiconducting diamond; forming a layer of photoresist over said insulating buffer; placing a pattern mask having a pattern of substantially opaque and transparent areas over said photoresist layer; exposing selected portions of said photoresist to light transmitted through said transparent areas of said pattern so that said photoresist includes unexposed portions of said photoresist; lifting said pattern mask off of said photoresist; removing said unexposed portions of said photoresist in order to expose said insulating buffer previously overlain by said unexposed portions of said photoresist; removing portions of said insulating buffer previously overlain by said unexposed portions of said photoresist in order to expose selected areas of said semiconducting diamond surface; depositing a carbide forming metal over said exposed selected areas of said surface of said semiconducting diamond, said carbide forming metal selected from the group consisting essentially of tungsten, molybdenum, chromium, vanadium, niobium, tantalum, titanium, nickel, cobalt, iron, manganese, aluminum, silicon, boron, zirconium, and hafnium; depositing at least one layer of an intermediate metal over said carbide forming metal; depositing a corrosion resistant metal over said intermediate metal, said corrosion resistant metal selected from the group consisting essentially of gold, platinum, palladium, iridium, silver, copper, nickel, and chromium; removing remaining portions of said photoresist so that said carbide forming, intermediate, and corrosion resistant metals overlying said photoresist are removed; heating said semiconducting diamond, said carbide forming metal, said intermediate metal, and said corrosion resistant metal to a temperature ranging from 350 to 1200 degrees Celsius in an environment inert to said carbide forming, intermediate, and corrosion resistant metals.