Abstract
The $O_2$ annealing technique has considerably suppressed the leakage current of GaN power devices, but this forms NiO at Ni-based Schottky contact with increasing on-resistance. The purpose of the present study was to fabricate 1.5 kV GaN Schottky barrier diodes by improving $O_2$-annealing process and GaN buffer. The proposed $O_2$ annealing performed after alloying ohmic contacts in order to avoid NiO construction. The ohmic contact resistance ($R_C$) was degraded from 0.43 to $3.42{\Omega}-mm$ after $O_2$ annealing at $800^{\circ}C$. We can decrease RC by lowering temperature of $O_2$ annealing. The isolation resistance of test structure which indicated the surface and buffer leakage current was significantly increased from $2.43{\times}10^7$ to $1.32{\times}10^{13}{\Omega}$ due to $O_2$ annealing. The improvement of isolation resistance can be caused by formation of group-III oxides on the surface. The leakage current of GaN Schottky barrier diode was also suppressed from $2.38{\times}10^{-5}$ to $1.68{\times}10^{-7}$ A/mm at -100 V by $O_2$ annealing. The GaN Schottky barrier diodes achieved the high breakdown voltage of 700, 1400, and 1530 V at the anode-cathode distance of 5, 10, and $20{\mu}m$, respectively. The optimized $O_2$ annealing and $4{\mu}m$-thick C-doped GaN buffer obtained the high breakdown voltage at short drift length. The proposed $O_2$ annealing is suitable for next-generation GaN power switches due to the simple process and the low the leakage current.