Experimental and theoretical investigations of the electrical properties of undoped and magnesium-doped GaN layers

The ac characteristics of GaN:Mg and undoped GaN layers, grown by MOVPE on sapphire substrates, are measured for a wide range of temperature and bias conditions, in order to investigate the effect of the magnesium-related lev el on the transport properties. Two peaks, whose height and position depend on the measurement temperature, are observed in the admittance curves (G/o mega versus frequency) of the Mg-doped samples, whereas only one peak appea rs in undoped samples. The study of the frequency dependence of the impedan ce, with a model including the two metallic Au/GaN junctions, the GaN layer itself, shows that, besides the effect of the differential resistance of t he layer which plays a role in both sample types, the presence of a Mg-rela ted deep level contributes to the observed variations of the peaks in the a dmittance curves of the p-doped samples. Results of a theoretical steady-st ate and small-signal analysis based on numerical modelling of the Au/GaN/Au heterostructure complete our analysis. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.