APPLIED PHYSICS LETTERS 90, 012106 2007

Highly reflective low resistance Ag-based Ohmic contacts on p-type GaN

using Mg overlayer
Ho Won Jang, Jun Ho Son, and Jong-Lam Leea
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology
(POSTECH), Pohang, Kyungbuk 790-784, Korea

Received 30 October 2006; accepted 3 December 2006; published online 3 January 2007
A metallization scheme with high reflectance and smooth surface morphology has been developed
for obtaining low resistance Ohmic contacts on p-type GaN. Excellent Ohmic characteristics with
a specific contact resistivity as low as 9.0 106 cm2 were obtained by annealing evaporated Ni
10 / Ag 1500 / Mg 500 contact at 450 C for 2 min in O2 ambient. Additionally, a high
reflectance over 80% was observed in the 400 500 nm wavelength range. The Mg overlayer
suppressed excessive incorporation of oxygen into the Ni and Ag layers during oxidation annealing,
leading to high reflectance and smooth surface quality of the Ohmic contact. 2007 American
Institute of Physics. DOI: 10.1063/1.2430405
Flip-chip and vertical-structure designs have been exploited in GaN-based light emitting diodes LEDs to improve light extraction efficiency and thermal management of
the devices.1,2 In these configurations, emitted light from active regions of the devices is reflected up from reflective
Ohmic contacts on p-type GaN. Ag is very suitable for reflective Ohmic contacts due to its high reflectance 95%
and surface plasmon coupling to visible light emissions.3 In
addition, low contact resistivities in the order of 105 cm2
have been obtained from Ag-based Ohmic contacts annealed
in oxygen ambient.47 However, annealing in oxygen ambient causes Ag to be oxidized and/or agglomerated, leading to
degradation in both reflectance and adhesion to GaN and
overlaid metals.68 Therefore, preventing Ag from oxidation
and/or agglomeration is a key aspect in obtaining high quality Ag-based Ohmic contacts suitable for application to highpower LEDs of solid-state lighting.
In this letter, we present a new metallization scheme
with high reflectance 80% and low contact resistivity
105 cm2. Employing a Mg overlayer on Ni/ Ag
Ohmic contacts on p-type GaN, light reflectance and surface
morphology of the contacts improved significantly. Interfacial reactions between contact metals and GaN were analyzed using depth profiles of secondary ion mass spectroscopy SIMS and synchrotron photoemission spectroscopy
SRPES. Based on these experimental results, effects of the
Mg overlayer on electrical and optical properties of Ni/ Ag
contacts are discussed.
Mg-doped p-type GaN films used in this work were
grown on 0001 sapphire substrate using metal organic
chemical vapor deposition. Net hole concentration was determined to be 3 1017 cm3 by Hall measurements. For measurements of specific contact resistivity using the transmission line method TLM, active regions were defined by
inductively coupled plasma of Cl2 / BCl3 gas, followed by
dipping samples into a boiling aqua regia solution to remove
surface oxides.9 TLM test structures were patterned on the
surface-treated samples using a photoresist. Prior to metal
deposition, all samples were dipped in HCl:de-ionized water
1:1 solution for 2 min. After the HCl treatment, Ni
a

Electronic mail: jllee@postech.ac.kr

10 / Ag 1500 / Mg 500 metals were deposited in

sequence on the samples by electron beam evaporation under
a base pressure of 2 107 torr. A Mg target containing
5 at. % Zn was used for the deposition of Mg. Ni 10 / Ag
1500 metals were also deposited for comparison. After
lift-off of metals deposited on the photoresist, the samples
were annealed at temperatures ranging from 300 to700 C
for 2 min in O2 ambient. Current-voltage I-V characteristics of the contacts were examined using a semiconductor
parameter analyzer. Light reflectance of the contacts was
measured using a monochromator equipped with a xenon
lamp. In measurements of light reflectance, the incident
beam was directed through the back-side polished sapphire
substrate at the incidence angle of 45 and the subsequent
reflected beam was collimated to a photomultiplier tube. A
Ag mirror with a certified reflectance over 96% in the wavelength range of interest was used as the reflectance standard.
Figure 1 shows contact resistivities of Ni/ Ag and
Ni/ Ag/ Mg contacts as a function of annealing temperature.
The as-deposited contact exhibited nonlinear I-V behavior,
but it became ohmic with increasing the annealing temperature. Specific contact resistivities of 1.8 105, 9.0 106,
and 3.5 105 cm2 were obtained from the Ni/ Ag/ Mg
contact annealed at 400, 450, and 500 C, respectively. The

FIG. 1. Specific contact resistivities of Ni/ Ag and Ni/ Ag/ Mg contacts as a

function of annealing temperature.

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90, 012106-1
2007 American Institute of Physics
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012106-2

Jang, Son, and Lee

Appl. Phys. Lett. 90, 012106 2007

FIG. 2. Light reflectance spectra of as-deposited Ag, annealed Ni/ Ag, and
Ni/ Ag/ Mg contacts. Annealing was carried out at 450 C for 2 min in O2
ambient.

Ni/ Ag/ Mg contact still showed Ohmic behavior with a contact resistivity as low as 1.7 104 cm2 after annealing at
600 C. This result suggests superior characteristics of the
Ni/ Ag/ Mg contact to previously reported contacts on p-type
GaN.48
Figure 2 shows light reflectance spectra of as-deposited
Ag and O2-annealed Ni/ Ag and Ni/ Ag/ Mg contacts. The
as-deposited Ag contact revealed a high reflectance value of
95.0% at the 460 nm wavelength. For the Ni/ Ag contact, the
value was measured to be 76.7%. It is noteworthy that the
reflectance was significantly improved for the Ni/ Ag/ Mg
contact. It was measured to be 82.5% at the 460 nm
wavelength.
In order to study interfacial reactions between contact
metals and GaN, SIMS depth profiles of Ni/ Ag and
Ni/ Ag/ Mg contacts after annealing were obtained, as shown
in Figs. 3a and 3b. For the Ni/ Ag contact, Ag completely
indiffused to the interfacial region, and Ga atoms significantly outdiffused from GaN to the surface. The oxygen profile coincided with the Ni profile, indicating the formation of
NiO. Significant intermixing between contact metals and
GaN is consistent with the previous results.7 For the
Ni/ Ag/ Mg contact, Ag indiffusion and subsequent Ga outdifusion were also observed. The coincidence of the oxygen
profile with the Mg profile indicates the formation of MgO
near the surface. It is easily ascertained that oxygen concentration drastically reduced near the Mg/ Ag interface and thus
Ni was not transformed into NiO. This suggests that the Mg

FIG. 3. SIMS depth profiles of a Ni 100 / Ag 1500 and Ni

100 / Ag 1500 / Mg 500 after annealing at 500 C for 2 min in
O2 ambient.

overlayer should prevent excessive oxygen from diffusing

into the underlying Ag and Ni metals during annealing.
SRPES measurements were carried out to investigate interdiffusions among the contact metals during annealing.
Figure 4 shows SRPES spectra of Ni 2p, Ag 3d, and Mg 2p
core levels for thin Ni/ Ag/ Mg contacts before and after annealing at 450 C. The peak intensity of Ni 2p significantly
increased after annealing, while the peak intensity of Ag 3d
decreased. This means that Ni outdiffusion and Ag indiffusion have occurred during annealing. In Mg 2p spectra, the
change of peak intensity was negligible. This indicates that
Mg still remained as an overlayer after annealing, consistent
with the SIMS result in Fig. 3b. Binding energy shift toward lower energies after annealing was observed in all the
spectra, which corresponds to the reduction of Schottky barrier height for the transport of holes across the interface. For
the as-deposited condition, the Ag 3d peak was mainly composed of AgAg bond, as shown in Fig. 4b. However, the
peak for the annealed sample was deconvoluted into two
bonds, corresponding to AgO and Ag alloy AgGa bonds,
respectively. This suggests the oxidation of Ag and the formation of AgGa solid solution after oxidation annealing.
Figure 5 shows scanning electron microscopy SEM
micrographs of Ni/ Ag and Ni/ Mg/ Ag contacts after anneal-

FIG. 4. SRPES spectra of a Ni 2p, b Ag 3d, and c

Mg 2p core levels for Ni 5 / Ag 5 / Mg 5
contacts before and after annealing at 450 C for 2 min
in O2 ambient. Binding energy differences of
0.43 0.1 eV for EAgGa EAgAg and 0.20 0.1 eV for
EAgAg EAgO are in good agreement with previously
reported values Ref. 11.

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012106-3

Appl. Phys. Lett. 90, 012106 2007

Jang, Son, and Lee

FIG. 5. SEM micrographs of Ni/ Ag and Ni/ Ag/ Mg

contacts after annealing at 450 C for 2 min in O2
ambient.

ing. The surface morphology of the Ni/ Ag contact was very

irregular. The uneven surface with wormlike islands is a distinctive feature of Ag agglomeration after annealing.10 The
agglomeration of Ag is well known for a chief cause of poor
adhesion of Ag films to both the underlying substrates and
overlaid layers.7 In addition, this causes a decrease in light
reflectance due to light transmission through the thinner
areas.6 For the Ni/ Ag/ Mg contact, the surface was very
smooth. It implies that the agglomeration of the Ag layer was
suppressed by the Mg overlayer. The smooth surface morphology guarantees a good contact pattern definition of the
contact.
The significant improvement in both light reflectance
and surface morphology for Ni/ Ag/ Mg contact is attributed
to the Mg overlayer. Oxygen molecules which incorporated
during oxidation annealing promoted the outdiffusion of Ga
atoms from the GaN layer. At the same time, outdiffusing Ga
atoms should dissolve in the indiffused Ag layer with the
formation of AgGa solid solution,6,7 resulting in the Ohmic
contact formation. However, excessive oxygen molecules
oxidized Ni into NiO, as shown in Fig. 3a. In addition, the
Ag layer was oxidized and agglomerated, as shown in Figs.
3a and 5a. This resulted in the decrease of light reflectance and rough surface morphology in the Ni/ Ag contact.
However, the oxidation of Ni and Ag layers and the agglomeration of Ag were not observed in the Ni/ Ag/ Mg contacts,
as shown in Figs. 3b and 5b. Gibbs free energy changes
for the formation of MgO, Ag2O, and NiO at 450 C are
calculated to be -267, 3.70, and 90.7 kJ/ mol, respectively.
This indicates that the formation of MgO is energetically
favorable for the oxidized Ni/ Ag/ Mg contact. As a result,
the Mg overlayer could act as a diffusion barrier for excessive incorporation of oxygen into the Ni and Ag layers with
the transformation into MgO Fig. 3b. This leads to the
high reflectance and smooth surface morphology of the
Ni/ Ag/ Mg contact.

In conclusion, a metallization scheme consisting of

Ni/ Ag/ Mg was developed to obtain high reflectance and low
resistance Ohmic contacts on p-type GaN. A specific contact
resistivity of 9.0 106 cm2 and visible light reflectance
of 82.5% were obtained. Outdiffusing Ga atoms during oxidation annealing dissolved in the Ag layer with the formation
of AgGa solid solution. Mg acted as a diffusion barrier for
excessive oxygen incorporating into the underlying Ag and
Ni layers, resulting in both high reflectance and smooth surface morphology. We suggest that the Ni/ Ag/ Mg contact
should be very suitable for high-power GaN-based LEDs
with flip-chip or vertical-structure configurations.
This work was supported by the Korean Research Foundation Grant funded by the Korean Government MOEHRD
KRF-2005-005-J13102.
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