Electrical Properties of Inhomogeneous Pt/GaN Schottky Barrier

In this work, the electrical properties of Pt/GaN Schottky contacts were studied. The temperature dependence of the barrier height and ideality factor, and the low experimental value of the Richardson’s constant, were discussed considering the formation of an inhomogenous Schottky barrier. Local current-voltage measurements on Pt/GaN contact, performed with a conductive atomic force microscope, demonstrated a Gaussian distribution of the local barrier height values and allowed to monitor the degree of inhomogeneity of the barrier. The presence of defects, terminating on the bare GaN surface, was correlated with the electrical behavior of the inhomogeneous barrier.