The GaN based metal-insulator-semiconductor(MIS) ultraviolet(UV) photodetectors were fabricated.The dark I-V curves and responsivity spectrum of the photodetectors were mea-sured,and the current transport mechanisms were analyzed.By analyzing the current transport mechanics,it was found that the tunneling-recombination mechanism dominated at the reverse bias and with the forward bias increasing,the current transport mechanism changed from tunneling mechanism to space charge limited current(SCLC) mechanism.Under 5 V reverse bias,it was found that the best responsivity and detectivity of the GaN based MIS detector were 170 mA/W and 2.3×1012 cm·Hz1/2·W-1 at 315 nm.The photo-voltages of GaN based UV photodetectors of different depth of insulator layers were studied,and it was found that the photo-voltage was limited by the tunneling procedure and leakage current.