Low-resistance ohmic contacts to p-type GaN achieved by the oxidation of Ni/Au films

Autor: L. J. Chen, Jin-Kuo Ho, Chao-Nien Huang, Fu-Rong Chen, Chien C. Chiu, Charng-Shyang Jong, Ji-Jung Kai, Kwang Kuo Shih
Rok vydání: 1999
Předmět:
Zdroj: Journal of Applied Physics. 86:4491-4497
ISSN: 1089-7550
0021-8979
DOI: 10.1063/1.371392
Popis: A contact has been developed to achieve a low specific contact resistance to p-type GaN. The contact consisted of a bi-layer Ni/Au film deposited on p-type GaN followed by heat treatment in air to transform the metallic Ni into NiO along with an amorphous Ni–Ga–O phase and large Au grains. A specific contact resistance as low as 4.0×10−6 Ω cm2 was obtained at 500 °C. This low value was obtained by the optimization of Ni/Au film thickness and heat treatment temperatures. Below about 400 °C, Ni was not completely oxidized. On the other hand, at temperatures higher than about 600 °C, the specific contact resistance increased because the NiO detached from p-GaN and the amount of amorphous Ni–Ga–O phase formed was more than that of the sample annealed at 500 °C. The mechanism of obtaining low-resistance ohmic contacts for the oxidized Ni/Au films was explained with a model using energy band diagrams of the Au/p-NiO/p-GaN structure.
Databáze: OpenAIRE