Mechanism of current leakage through metal/n-GaN interfaces

Detailed current-voltage-temperature (I-V-T) measurements were performed on the Schottky diodes fabricated on MOVPE-grown n-GaN layers. A large deviation from the thermionic emission (TE) transport was observed in the reverse I-Vcurves with a large excess leakage. From the calculation based on the thermionic-field emission (TFE) model, it was found that the tunneling plays an important role in the carrier transport across the GaN Schottky barrier even for doping densities as low as 1 x 10(17) cm(-3). A novel barrier-modified TFE model based on presence of near-surface fixed charges or surface states is proposed to explain the observed large reverse leakage currents. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.