GaN metal-semiconductor-metal ultraviolet sensors with various contact electrodes

Indium-tin-oxide (ITO), Au, Ni, and Pt layers were deposited onto n-GaN films and/or glass substrates by electron-beam evaporation. With proper annealing, it was found that we could improve the optical properties of the ITO layers and achieve a maximum transmittance of 98% at 360 nm. GaN-based MSM UV sensors with ITO, Au, Ni, and Pt as contact electrodes were also fabricated. It was found that we could achieve a maximum 0.12 A photocurrent and a photocurrent to dark current contrast higher than five orders of magnitude for the 600°C-annealed ITO/n-GaN MSM UV sensor at a 5-V bias voltage. We also found that the maximum responsivity at 345 nm was 7.2 A/W and 0.9 A/W when the 600°C-annealed ITO/n-GaN MSM UV sensor was biased at 5 V and 0.5 V, respectively. These values were much larger than those observed from other metal/n-GaN MSM UV sensors. However, the existence of photoconductive gain in the 600°C-annealed ITO/n-GaN MSM UV sensor also results in a slower operation speed and a smaller 3-dB bandwidth as compared with the metal/n-GaN MSM UV sensors.