Barrier inhomogeneity in vertical Schottky diodes on free standing gallium nitride

In this paper, the electrical behavior of a Ni/Au Schottky barrier on free standing GaN has been studied employing a variety of techniques and correlated with the material and interface quality. The temperature dependence of the ideality factor (n) and of the Schottky barrier height (ΦB) revealed a spatial inhomogeneity of the barrier. This behavior has been described by means of the Tung's model on inhomogeneous Schottky barriers. The origin of the barrier inhomogeneity can be likely associated to the surface quality of the GaN epilayer or to microstructure of the Ni/GaN interface.