The reflectivity and ohmic contact resistivity of Ni/Ag/Ti/Au in contact with p-GaN

The ohmic reflectivity of Ni/Ag/Ti/Au in contact with p-GaN is studied. It is found that under different thickness values of Ni, different annealing temperatures and different annealing atmospheres, the performances of Ni/Ag/Ti/Au electrode are greatly changed. The contact resistivity is measured using the transmission line model. The reflectivity of the electrode is investigated by using a spectrophotometer. The results reveal that the thinner the Ni metal layer, the higher its reflectivity is, in addition, the thickness value of Ni metal has a little influence on contact resistivity. There appears an abrupt decrease in reflectivity of electrode after annealing at a temperature higher than 400 degrees C. It is noticed that the reflectivity decreases more sharply after annealing in oxygen atmosphere than in nitrogen atmosphere. However, annealing in oxygen atmosphere is more helpful to reduce the contact resistivity. The comprehensive evaluations of the contact resistivity and reflectivity indicate that the better performances of Ni (1 nm)/Ag/Ti/Au electrode after rapid annealing in oxygen atmosphere at 400 degrees C are achieved: its contact resistance reaches 5.5 x 10(-3) Omega.cm(2) and reflectivity rises up to 85% at 450 nm. Light emitting diode (LED) of vertical structure is fabricated with an optimal electrode. The LED under an injection current of 350 mA can achieve the following working parameters: the working voltage is 3.2 V, the optical output power is 270 mW, and the electro-optical conversion efficiency is 24%.