Vertical-structured Ni/n-GaN schottky diode with electroplating nickel substrate

For the past decade, most of vertical device applications of GaN were processed by either wafer bonding or direct epitaxy on SiC or GaN wafer. However, the former usually suffers from large strain between GaN and bonding wafer because the high temperature and high pressure bonding process, and the later is not cost effective because of using SiC or GaN substrate. In this work, a novel vertical structure of Ni/n-GaN Schottky barrier diode (SBD) with metallic substrate employing nickel electroplating and laser lift-off (LLO) processes is proposed and its electrical characteristics is reported