Direct observation of transferred-electron effect in GaN

Abstract

We report the direct observation of transferred-electron effect in unintentionally doped GaN epilayers grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. The negative differential resistivity (NDR) was observed from the current-electric field characteristics in GaN using a metal-semiconductor-metal (M-S-M) system. The threshold field for the onset of NDR was independent of the spacing of M-S-M fingers, and was measured to be 1.91×105 V/cm for GaN with an n-type carrier concentration of 1014 cm−3. This value is very close to the value obtained from theoretical simulation. This observation is an experimental evidence of transferred-electron effects in GaN, which is important in understanding GaN energy band structure and in the application of Gunn-effect devices using GaN materials.