Thermal stability study of Ni/Ta n-GaN Schottky contacts

The Schottky behavior of Ni/Ta and Ni contacts on n-GaN was investigated under various annealing conditions by current-voltage measurements. It is found that with the addition of Ta between the Ni layer and the GaN substrate the thermal stability properties of devices can be significantly improved. Experimental results indicate that a high quality Ni/Ta n-GaN Schottky diode with an ideality factor and barrier height of 1.16 and 1.24 eV, respectively, can be obtained under 1 h annealing, at 700 degreesC. (C) 2002 American Institute of Physics.