Effect of oxygen incorporation in a-plane GaN on p-type ohmic contact property

We report on the origin of the non-ohmic behavior of Ni/Au-based p-type contacts on a nonpolar a-plane GaN layer. The contact properties of Ga-polar c-plane GaN and nonpolar a-plane GaN are compared. While the Ga-polar c-plane shows ohmic-contact properties in the Ni/Au contact after heat treatment, the nonpolar a-plane shows rectifying characteristics both before and after heat treatment. We determined the reasons why the two planes show substantial differences in contact properties using various tools. We conclude that the differences originated from the oxygen incorporation preference resulting in gallium oxide formation at the interface of nonpolar a-plane GaN.