With Ni/Au and Pd/Au metal schemes and low temperature processing, we formed low resistance stable Ohmic contacts to p‐type GaN. Our investigation was preceded by conventional cleaning, followed by treatment in boiling HNO3:HCl (1:3). Metallization was by thermally evaporating 30 nm Ni/15 nm Au or 25 nm Pd/15 nm Au. After heat treatment in O2 + N2 at various temperatures, the contacts were subsequently cooled in liquid nitrogen. Cryogenic cooling following heat treatment at 600 ·C decreased the specific contact resistance from 9.84·10−4 Ωcm2 to 2.65·10−4 Ωcm2 for the Ni/Au contacts, while this increased it from 1.80·10−4 Ωcm2 to 3.34·10−4 Ωcm2 for the Pd/Au contacts. The Ni/Au contacts showed slightly higher specific contact resistance than the Pd/Au contacts, although they were more stable than the Pd contacts. X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy depth profiling showed the Ni contacts to be NiO followed by Au at the interface for the Ni/Au contacts, whereas the Pd/Au contacts exhibited a Pd:Au solid solution. The contacts quenched in liquid nitrogen following sintering were much more uniform under atomic force microscopy examination and gave a 3 times lower contact resistance with the Ni/Au design. Current‐voltage‐temperature analysis revealed that conduction was predominantly by thermionic field emission.

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