We have examined new structures for ohmic contacts to p-GaN, mainly for applications in light emitting devices, based on a layer of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) and metallic layers of Au/Cr, Au/Ni-Mg( -0) namely in configurations Au/Cr/SWCT/p-GaN and Au/Ni-Mg(-0)/SWCT/p-GaN. The layer of carbon nanotubes was deposited on p-GaN by spraying a solution of synthesized SWCTs, the layers of Au/Cr were vapor deposited and the layers of Au/Ni-Mg(-0) were deposited by DC reactive magnetron sputtering in an atmosphere with and without a low concentration of oxygen (approx. 0.2 at%). It has been found that the contact structures provide a low resistivity ohmic contact after subsequent annealing in N2 ambient at 700 C for 1 min. It has also been found that the structure containing the SWCNT interlayer exhibits lower values of contact resistance in comparison with an otherwise identical contact without the SWCNT interlayer. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.