Patent ID: 8318594

Claim:
A method for fabricating a nitride-based semiconductor device, comprising the steps of: (a) providing a substrate; (b) forming on the substrate a nitride-based semiconductor multilayer structure including a p-type GaN-based semiconductor region, a surface of the p-type GaN-based semiconductor region being an m-plane; and (c) forming an electrode on the surface of the p-type GaN-based semiconductor region of the semiconductor multilayer structure, wherein step (c) includes forming a Mg layer on the surface of the p-type GaN-based semiconductor region, and forming a Ag layer on the Mg layer, and performing a heat treatment to anneal the electrode at a temperature of 500° C. to 700° C., and wherein a contact resistance of the electrode arranged on the m-plane and annealed at a temperature of 500° C. to 700° C. is less than 1.0×10 −02 Ωcm 2 , and is lower than a contact resistance when the electrode is arranged on a c-plane of the same p-type semiconductor region and annealed at a temperature of 500° C. to 700° C.