Thermally induced variation in barrier height and ideality factor of Ni/Au contacts to p-GaN

Abstract

In this paper, we describe the change in barrier heights (ϕB) and ideality factors (n) of Ni/Au contacts to p-GaN determined from current-voltage measurements as a result of (a) rapid thermal annealing between 400–700°C under flowing nitrogen, and (b) testing at temperatures of 20–300°C. The lowest barrier height and ideality factor values were obtained from samples annealed at 500–600°C. These results provide supporting evidence that thermal processing helps to remove contaminants at the contact-GaN interface, thus decreasing effective barrier height and consequently, contact resistance.