We have investigated the effects of plasma surface treatment on ohmic contacts to n-type GaN. Prior to metal evaporation, n-GaN surface was etched either chemically using aqua-regia (control sample) or by means of inductively coupled Cl2/BCl3, N2 or Ar plasmas. The metal system adopted in our investigation was Ti/Al/Pd/Au. The as-deposited Ti/Al/Pd/Au contact on aqua-regia treated n-GaN exhibits an ohmic behavior with a specific contact resistance (ρc) of 2×10−4ωcm2. After annealing at 500°C for 5min, ρc is reduced by approximately 2 orders of magnitude to 5×10−6ωcm2. For Cl2/BCl3 and N2 plasma treated n-GaN surface, the as-deposited Ti/Al/Pd/Au contacts also yield ohmic behavior and ρc's are about 2×10−4 and 5×10−4 ωcm2 respectively. After annealing at 500°C for 5min, ρc's are reduced by about 3 orders of magnitude to around 5×10−7 and 8×10−7 ωcm2 respectively. On the other hand, the as-deposited Ti/Al/Pd/Au contact on Ar plasma treated n-GaN exhibits a non-ohmic behavior. After annealing at 500°C for 5min, ρc is about 5×10−7 ωcm2 and the lowest ρc of 7×10−8 ωcm2 is obtained after annealing at 700°C for 5min. The contacts on other surface treated n-GaN are found to degrade at 700°C annealing. By comparing the values of ρc for various surface treatments, particularly those after annealing, it is observed that plasma etching can be used beneficially in the formation of ohmic contacts – plasma surface treatment using Cl2/BCl3, N2 or Ar has resulted in an order of magnitude reduction in ρc compared to chemical surface treatment by aqua-regia.