Hydrogen sensing of N-polar and Ga-polar GaN Schottky diodes

N-polar and Ga-polar GaN grown on c-plane sapphire were used to fabricate platinum deposited Schottky contacts for hydrogen sensing at room temperature. After exposure to hydrogen, Ga-polar GaN Schottky barrier reduced by 3–4 meV, while the N-polar GaN Schottky contacts became fully Ohmic. The N-polar GaN Schottky diodes showed stronger and faster response to 4% hydrogen than that of Ga-polar Schottky diodes. The abrupt current increase from N-polar GaN Schottky exposure to hydrogen was attributed to the high reactivity of the N-face surface termination. The surface termination dominates the sensitivity and response time of the hydrogen sensors made of GaN Schottky diodes.