Proton-induced damage in Gallium nitride-based Schottky diodes

Proton irradiation decreases the doping concentration and increases the ideality factor and series resistance, but has very little effect on the Schottky barrier height in n-Gallium nitride Schottky diodes. 1.0-MeV protons cause greater degradation than 1.8-MeV protons because of their higher nonionizing energy loss. The displacement damage recovers during annealing. Comparison between Schottky diodes and high electron-mobility transistors suggests that the degradation in both types of devices is predominantly due to carrier removal and mobility degradation caused by radiation-induced defect centers in the crystal lattice, with interface disorder playing a relatively insignificant part in overall device degradation. Index Terms--Gallium (Ga) alloys, Schottky diodes, proton radiation effects.