Space-charge-limited currents in GaN Schottky diodes

Unusual dark current-voltage (I-V) characteristics were observed in GaN Schottky diodes. I-V characteristics of the GaN Schottky diodes were measured down to the magnitude of 10−14 A. Although these Schottky diodes were clearly rectifying, their I-V characteristics were non-ideal which can be judged from the non-linearity in the semi-logarithmic plots. Careful analysis of the forward bias I-V characteristics on log-log scale indicates space-charge-limited current (SCLC) conduction dominates the current transport in these GaN Schottky diodes. The concentration of the deep trapping centers was estimated to be higher than 1015 cm−3. In the deep level transient spectra (DLTS) measurements for the GaN Schottky diodes, deep defect levels around 0.20 eV below the bottom of the conduction band were identified, which may act as the trapping centers. The concentration of the deep centers obtained from the DLTS data is about 5 × 1015 cm−3. SCLC measurements may be used to probe the properties of deep levels in wide bandgap GaN-AlGaN compound semiconductors, as is the case with insulators in the presence of trapping centers.