Numerical simulation of tunneling current in GaN Schottky diodes

We have calculated and compared the current components that are expected to flow in GaN Schottky diodes. Depending on the doping concentration, the ratio between the thermionic emission (drift- diffusion) and the tunneling currents changes. The thermionic current is in absolute value lower than the tunneling current for every studied doping concentration for both forward and reverse directions and its influence decreases with increasing doping concentration. The current calculated from the drift-diffusion approximation is higher in magnitude than the thermionic current and for lower doping concentrations is even higher than the tunneling current. Also the temperature dependence of the tunneling current as a function of the doping concentration is studied and analyzed. (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics.