The improvement of electrical properties of Pd-based contact to p-GaN by surface treatment

The surface treatment effect on the interfacial reaction and electrical property of Au/Pd contacts to p-GaN has been investigated. The contact resistance of Au/Pd contacts on boiling aqua regia treated p-GaN was lower than aqua regia treated p-GaN by one order of magnitude. The specific contact resistivity of Au/Pd contacts on boiling aqua regia treated p-GaN increased with annealing temperature, but that on aqua regia treated p-GaN decreased with annealing temperature and it showed minimum value after annealing at 700°C. According to the results of the interfacial reaction, the Au/Pd contact metals reacted more easily with aqua regia treated p-GaN than boiling aqua regia treated p-GaN. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis revealed that the relative surface Ga-to-N ratio of boiling aqua regia treated p-GaN was lower than that of aqua regia treated p-GaN and the surface of p-GaN was modified from Ga-termination to N-termination by surface treatment using boiling aqua regia. According to the results of surface analysis and interfacial reaction of Au/Pd/p-GaN, it could be concluded that the different temperature dependence of contact resistance according to the surface treatment conditions was related strongly to the surface modification of p-GaN from Ga-termination to N-termination.