GaN pn-junction diodes have been grown on GaN and sapphire substrates by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy and their electrical characteristics have been studied. For the diode on the GaN substrate, the reverse leakage current is lower and the breakdown voltage V-B is higher than those on the sapphire substrate owing to the lower dislocation density. The breakdown voltage is further improved with decreasing Mg concentration in p-GaN layers. Analysis of the depletion-layer capacitance of pn diodes has revealed that the Mg acceptors are fully ionized in the depletion layer. By optimizing the growth conditions, the diodes on GaN substrates show extremely low leakage current and the ideal hard breakdown at -925 V. The breakdown field is estimated to be 3.27 MV/cm. The specific on-resistance R-ON of 6.3 m Omega cm(2) is obtained, leading to the figure of merit, V-B(2)/R-ON, of 136 MW/cm(2). (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.