Electrical characterization of (Ni/Au)/Al0.25Ga0.75N/GaN/SiC Schottky barrier diode

In this work we report on the characteristics of a (Ni/Au)/AlGaN/GaN/SiC Schottky barrier diode (SBD). A variety of electrical techniques, such as gate current-voltage (I-V), capacitance-voltage (C-V), and deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) measurements have been used to characterize the diode. The behavior study of the series resistance, R-S, the ideality factor, n, the effective barrier height, Phi(b), and the leakage current with the temperature have emphasized an inhomogeneity of the barrier height and a tunneling mechanism assisted by traps in the SBD. Hence, C-V measurements successively sweeping up and down the voltage have demonstrate a hysteresis phenomenon which is more pronounced in the temperature range of 240 to 320 K, with a maximum at similar to 300 K. This parasitic effect can be attributed to the presence of traps activated at the same range of temperature in the SBD. Using the DLTS technique, we have detected one hole trap having an activation energy and a capture cross-section of 0.75 eV and 1.09 x 10(-13)cm(2), respectively, seems to be responsible for the appearance of the hysteresis phenomenon. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3600229]