Investigation of low-temperature electrical conduction mechanisms in highly resistive GaN bulk layers extracted with Simple Parallel Conduction Extraction Method

Abstract

The electrical conduction mechanisms in various highly resistive GaN layers of Al (x) Ga1-x N/AlN/GaN/AlN heterostructures are investigated in a temperature range between T=40 K and 185 K. Temperature-dependent conductivities of the bulk GaN layers are extracted from Hall measurements with implementing simple parallel conduction extraction method (SPCEM). It is observed that the resistivity (rho) increases with decreasing carrier density in the insulating side of the metal-insulator transition for highly resistive GaN layers. Then the conduction mechanism of highly resistive GaN layers changes from an activated conduction to variable range hopping conduction (VRH). In the studied temperature range, ln (rho) is proportional to T (-1/4) for the insulating sample and proportional to T (-1/2) for the more highly insulating sample, indicating that the transport mechanism is due to VRH.