The growth and properties of N-polar Ga N layers by metal organic chemical vapor deposition(MOCVD) were reported. It is found that N-polar Ga N grown on normal sapphire substrate shows hexagonal hillock surface morphology. With the misorientation angles increasing from 0.5° to 2.0° toward the a-plane of the sapphire substrate, the number of the hillock becomes less and less and finally the surface becomes flat one on the sapphire substrate with the misorientation angle of 2°. It is also found that the crystalline quality and the strain in the Ga N are greatly influenced by the misorientation angle.
By using temperature-dependent current–voltage, variable-frequency capacitance–voltage, and Hall measurements,the effects of the thermal oxidation on the electrical properties of Ni/Au Schottky contacts on lattice-matched In0.18Al0.82N/GaN heterostructures are investigated. Decrease of the reverse leakage current down to six orders of magnitude is observed after the thermal oxidation of the In0.18Al0.82N/GaN heterostructures at 700oC. It is confirmed that the reverse leakage current is dominated by the Frenkel–Poole emission, and the main origin of the leakage current is the emission of electrons from a trap state near the metal/semiconductor interface into a continuum of electronic states associated with the conductive dislocations in the InxAl1-xN barrier. It is believed that the thermal oxidation results in the formation of a thin oxide layer on the InxAl1-xN surface, which increases the electron emission barrier height.
