Laterally inhomogeneous barrier analysis of the methyl violet/p-Si organic/inorganic hybrid Schottky structures

In this work, we have investigated the electrical characteristics, such as current-voltage (I-V) and capacitance-voltage (C-V) measurements, of identically prepared crystal violet/p-Si Organic/Inorganic (OI) Schottky structures formed by evaporation of organic compound solution to directly p-Si semiconductor substrate. It has been seen that the crystal violet organic dye thin film on the p-Si substrate has exhibited a good rectifying behavior. The barrier heights (BHs) and ideality factors of all devices have been calculated from the electrical characteristics. Although the diodes were all identically prepared, there was a diode-to-diode variation: the effective barrier heights ranged from 0.6 ± 0.1 to 0.8 ± 0.1 eV, and the ideality factor from 1.6 ± 0.4 to 3.5 ± 0.4. The barrier height versus ideality factor plot has been plotted for the OI devices. Lateral homogeneous BH was calculated as a value of 0.7 eV from the observed linear correlation between BH and ideality factor, which can be explained by laterally inhomogeneities of BHs. The values of barrier height and acceptor doping concentration yielded from the reverse bias C-V measurements ranged from 0.7 ± 0.1 to 1.3 ± 0.1 eV and from (4.7 ± 0.8) × 10¹⁴ to (8.1 ± 0.8) × 10¹⁴ cm⁻³, respectively. The mean barrier height and mean acceptor doping concentration from C-V characteristics has been calculated 1.0 eV and 5.9 × 10¹⁴ cm⁻³, respectively. It has been seen that the mean BH value of 0.7 eV obtained for the Al/methyl violet/p-Si contact is significantly larger than BH values of the conventional Al/p-Si Schottky diodes. Thus, modification of the interfacial potential barrier for metal/Si diodes has been achieved using a thin interlayer of the methyl violet organic semiconductor; this has been ascribed to the fact that the methyl violet interlayer increases the effective barrier height by influencing the space charge region of Si.     

Calculation of current–voltage characteristics of a Cu (II) complex/n-Si/AuSb Schottky diode

In this study, Cu (II) complex/n-Si structure has been fabricated by forming a thin organic Cu (II) complex film on n-Si wafer. It has been seen that the structure has clearly shown the rectifying behaviour and can be evaluated as a Schottky diode. The contact parameters of the diode such as the barrier height and the ideality factor have been calculated using several methods proposed by different authors from current–voltage (I–V) characteristics of the device. The calculated barrier height and ideality factor values from different methods have shown the consistency of the approaches. The obtained ideality factor which is greater than unity refers the deviation from ideal diode characteristics. This deviation can be attributed to the native interfacial layer in the organic/inorganic interface and the high series resistance of the diode. In addition, the energy distribution of the interface state density (N_ss) in the semiconductor band gap at Cu (II) complex/n-Si interface obtained from I–V characteristics range from 2.15 × 10¹³ cm⁻² eV⁻¹ at (E_c − 0.66) eV to 5.56 × 10¹² cm⁻² eV⁻¹ at (E_c − 0.84) eV.     

Simulation studies of current transport in metal–insulator–semiconductor Schottky barrier diodes

The current–voltage characteristics of Schottky diodes with an interfacial insulator layer are analysed by numerical simulation. The current–voltage data of the metal–insulator–semiconductor Schottky diode are simulated using thermionic emission diffusion (TED) equation taking into account an interfacial layer parameter. The calculated current–voltage data are fitted into ideal TED equation to see the apparent effect of interfacial layer parameters on current transport. Results obtained from the simulation studies shows that with mere presence of an interfacial layer at the metal–semiconductor interface the Schottky contact behave as an ideal diode of apparently high barrier height (BH), but with same ideality factor and series resistance as considered for a pure Schottky contact without an interfacial layer. This apparent BH decreases linearly with decreasing temperature. The effects giving rise to high ideality factor in metal–insulator–semiconductor diode are analysed. Reasons for observed temperature dependence of ideality factor in experimentally fabricated metal–insulator–semiconductor diodes are analysed and possible mechanisms are discussed.     

Identity of defect causing nonideality in nearly ideal Au/n-Si Schottky barriers

We have proposed a mechanism of nonideality, i.e., the temperature dependence of the ideality factor, in nearly ideal Au/n-Si Schottky barriers. Because of the nature of metal-induced gap states, positively ionized defects close to the interface are considered to cause local lowering of the Schottky barrier height (SBH) due to downward bending of the energy band. These positively charged defects become neutralized in equilibrium with the Fermi level due to the band bending, when they are very close to the interface. However, because the SBH lowering disappears by the neutralization of donor, the energy level of donor with a usual energy level scheme rises above the Fermi level after the neutralization. This contradiction to the equilibrium neutralization is resolved by Si self-interstitial with a large negative-U property, which is generated by the fabrication process. The energy level of the donor estimated from the SBH lowering is in good agreement with that of theoretical calculation of Si self-interstitial. Thus, the defect is concluded to be the Si self-interstitial, which is distributed to more than 10 Å depth from the interface.     

Photoluminescence ofn-GaAs at transparent Schottky contacts

Near-bandgap photoluminescence at 300 K of a Se-dopedn-GaAs crystal withn=4.8·10¹⁶ cm⁻³ was measured at a transparent CrAu−GaAs Schottky contact. The dependence of the luminescence intensity on the applied reverse voltage was recorded. Both the doping concentration and absorption coefficients above bandgap are determined.     

Double threshold behaviour of I－V characteristics of CoSi2/Si Schottky contacts

The forward current－voltage (I－V) characteristics of polycrystalline CoSi₂/n-Si(100) Schottky contacts have been measured in a wide temperature range. At low temperatures (≤200K), a plateau-like section is observed in the I－V characteristics around 10^-4A·cm^-2. The current in the small bias region significantly exceeds that expected by the model based on thermionic emission (TE) and a Gaussian distribution of Schottky barrier height (SBH). Such a double threshold behaviour can be explained by the barrier height inhomogeneity, i.e. at low temperatures the current through some patches with low SBH dominates at small bias region. With increasing bias voltage, the Ohmic effect becomes important and the current through the whole junction area exceeds the patch current, thus resulting in a plateau-like section in the I－V curves at moderate bias. For the polycrystalline CoSi₂/Si contacts studied in this paper, the apparent ideality factor of the patch current is much larger than that calculated from the TE model taking the pinch-off effect into account. This suggests that the current flowing through these patches is of the tunnelling type, rather than the thermionic emission type. The experimental I－V characteristics can be fitted reasonably well in the whole temperature region using the model based on tunnelling and pinch-off.     

A1/Ti/4H-SiC Schottky barrier diodes with inhomogeneous barrier heights

This paper investigates the current-voltage （I-V） characteristics of Al/Ti/4H-SiC Schottky barrier diodes （SBDs） in the temperature range of 77 K-500 K, which shows that Al/Ti/4H SiC SBDs have good rectifying behaviour. An abnormal behaviour, in which the zero bias barrier height decreases while the ideality factor increases with decreasing temperature （T）, has been successfully interpreted by using thermionic emission theory with Gaussian distribution of the barrier heights due to the inhomogeneous barrier height at the A1/Ti/4H-SiC interface. The effective Richardson constant A＊ = 154 A/cm2 . K2 is determined by means of a modified Richardson plot In（I0/T2） - （qσ）2/2（κT）2 versus q/kT, which is very close to the theoretical value 146 A/cm2 · K2.     

Thermal annealing behaviour of Al/Ni/Au multilayer on n-GaN Schottky contacts

Recently GaN-based high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) have revealed the superior properties of a high breakdown field and high electron saturation velocity. Reduction of the gate leakage current is one of the key issues to be solved for their further improvement. This paper reports that an Al layer as thin as 3 nm was inserted between the conventional Ni/Au Schottky contact and n-GaN epilayers, and the Schottky behaviour of Al/Ni/Au contact was investigated under various annealing conditions by current--voltage (I--V) measurements. A non-linear fitting method was used to extract the contact parameters from the I--V characteristic curves. Experimental results indicate that reduction of the gate leakage current by as much as four orders of magnitude was successfully recorded by thermal annealing. And high quality Schottky contact with a barrier height of 0.875 eV and the lowest reverse-bias leakage current, respectively, can be obtained under 12 min annealing at 450°C in N₂ ambience.     

On the role of the interface charge in non-ideal metal–semiconductor contacts

The bias dependent interface charge is considered as the origin of the observed non-ideality in current–voltage and capacitance–voltage characteristics. Using the simplified model for the interface electronic structure based on defects interacting with the continuum of interface states, the microscopic origin of empirical parameters describing the bias dependent interface charge function is investigated. The results show that in non-ideal metal–semiconductor contacts the interface charge function depends on the interface disorder parameter, density of defects, barrier pinning parameter and the effective gap center. The theoretical predictions are tested against several sets of published experimental data on bias dependent ideality factor and excess capacitance in various metal–semicoductor systems.     

Hydrogen peroxide treatment on ZnO substrates to investigate the characteristics of Pt and Pt oxide Schottky contacts

We utilize hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) treatment on (0 0 0 1) ZnO substrates to investigate the characteristics of Pt and Pt oxide Schottky contacts (SCs). X-ray rocking curves show the mosaicity structure becomes larger after H₂O₂ treatment. Photoluminescence (PL) spectra show the yellow-orange emission peaking at ∼576-580 nm with respect to deep level of oxygen interstitials introduced by H₂O₂ treatment. The threshold formation of ZnO₂ resistive layer on H₂O₂-treated ZnO for 45 min is observed from grazing-incidence X-ray diffraction. The better electrical characteristic is performed by Pt oxide SC with the larger barrier height (1.09 eV) and the lower leakage current (9.52 × 10⁻¹¹ A/cm² at −2 V) than Pt SC on the H₂O₂-treated ZnO for 60 min. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and secondary ion mass spectrometer (SIMS) examinations indicate the promoted interface oxide bonding and Zn outdiffusion for Pt oxide contact, different from Pt contact. Based on current-voltage, capacitance-voltage, X-ray diffraction, PL spectra, XPS, and SIMS results, the possible mechanism for effective rectifying characteristic and enhanced Schottky behavior is given.     

Schottky barrier MOSFET structure with silicide source/drain on buried metal

In this paper, we propose a novel Schottky barrier MOSFET structure, in which the silicide source/drain is designed on the buried metal (SSDOM). The source/drain region consists of two layers of silicide materials. Two Schottky barriers are formed between the silicide layers and the silicon channel. In the device design, the top barrier is lower and the bottom is higher. The lower top contact barrier is to provide higher {on-state} current, and the higher bottom contact barrier to reduce the off-state current. To achieve this, ErSi is proposed for the top silicide and CoSi₂ for the bottom in the n-channel case. The 50~nm n-channel SSDOM is thus simulated to analyse the performance of the SSDOM device. In the simulations, the top contact barrier is 0.2e~V (for ErSi) and the bottom barrier is 0.6eV (for CoSi₂. Compared with the corresponding conventional Schottky barrier MOSFET structures (CSB), the high on-state current of the SSDOM is maintained, and the off-state current is efficiently reduced. Thus, the high drive ability (1.2mA/μm at V_ds=1V, V_gs=2V) and the high I_on/I_min ratio (10⁶) are both achieved by applying the SSDOM structure.     

Al Schottky contact on p-GaSe

A new Schottky diode, Al/p-GaSe, was presented in this study. It shows an effective barrier height of 0.96 eV with an ideality factor of 1.24 over five decades and a reverse leakage current density of 4.12×10⁻⁷ A/cm² at −2 V after rapid thermal annealing at 400 C for 30 s. The generation–recombination effect of the Schottky diode was decreased as the annealing temperature was increased. The formation of Al_1.33Se₂ was observed by X-ray diffraction analysis after the diode was annealed at 400 C for 30 s. Owing to the grains’ growth, the surface morphology of the 400 C-annealed diode was rougher than that of the unannealed diode, which was observed both by the AFM and the SEM analysis.     

肖特基结的制备与势垒测量

采用磁控溅射方法在Nb07％-SrTiO3基片上制作Au薄膜接触,并在氧气气氛下750℃退火30 min,在室温环境下测量电流电压和电容电压等特性曲线,观测整流特性,根据相应实验数据采用饱和电流法、电容C-2与反偏电压V成线性关系计算肖特基势垒的大小.     

Study and optimal simulation of 4H-SiC floating junction Schottky barrier diodes’ structures and electric properties

This paper stuides the structures of 4H-SiC floating junction Schottky barrier diodes. Some structure parameters of devices are optimized with commercial simulator based on forward and reverse electrical characteristics. Compared with conventional power Schottky barrier diodes, the devices are featured by highly doped drift region and embedded floating junction layers, which can ensure high breakdown voltage while keeping lower specific on-state resistance, and solve the contradiction between forward voltage drop and breakdown voltage. The simulation results show that with optimized structure parameter, the breakdown voltage can reach 4.36 kV and the specific on-resistance is 5.8 mΩ·cm2 when the Baliga figure of merit value of 13.1 GW/cm2 is achieved.     

Electrical parameters retrieval of carbon nanoparticle-based metal semiconductor metal structure by standard methods and beta-ray-induced charge

Semiconducting carbon nanoparticles (CNPs) represent various applications in sensing systems with exceptional electronic properties. The extraction of electronic parameters of a sensor is very important to interpret the sensing characteristics of the electronic devices. This work is concerned with the extraction of electronic parameters such as the ideality factor, the barrier height, the series resistance, and some other diode parameters of a CNP-based metal semiconductor metal structure. The parameters are determined from the experimental data and physical model using the standard current–voltage (I–V) analysis in the frame of the thermionic emission theory, impedance spectroscopy, and other methods. The mobility-lifetime products (μτ) for electrons and holes in CNP micro-wire were determined by beta-ray-induced charge with Schottky contacts.     

Characterization of ion-implanted 4H-SiC Schottky barrier diodes

Ion-implantation layers are fabricated by multiple nitrogen ion-implantations (3 times for sample A and 4 times for sample B) into a p-type 4H-SiC epitaxial layer. The implantation depth profiles are calculated by using the Monte Carlo simulator TRIM. The fabrication process and the I--V and C--V characteristics of the lateral Ti/4H-SiC Schottky barrier diodes (SBDs) fabricated on these multiple box-like ion-implantation layers are presented in detail. Measurements of the reverse I--V characteristics demonstrate a low reverse current, which is good enough for many SiC-based devices such as SiC metal--semiconductor field-effect transistors (MESFETs), and SiC static induction transistors (SITs). The parameters of the diodes are extracted from the forward I--V and C--V characteristics. The values of ideality factor n of SBDs for samples A and B are 3.0 and 3.5 respectively, and the values of series resistance R_\rm s are 11.9 and 1.0~kΩ respectively. The values of barrier height φ _\rm B of Ti/4H-SiC are 0.95 and 0.72 eV obtained by the I--V method and 1.14 and 0.93 eV obtained by the C--V method for samples A and B respectively. The activation rates for the implanted nitrogen ions of samples A and B are 2\% and 4\% respectively extracted from C--V testing results.     

High-temperature current conduction through three kinds of Schottky diodes

Fundamentals of the Schottky contacts and the high-temperature current conduction through three kinds of Schottky diodes are studied. N-Si Schottky diodes, GaN Schottky diodes and AlGaN/GaN Schottky diodes are investigated by I--V--T measurements ranging from 300 to 523~K. For these Schottky diodes, a rise in temperature is accompanied with an increase in barrier height and a reduction in ideality factor. Mechanisms are suggested, including thermionic emission, field emission, trap-assisted tunnelling and so on. The most remarkable finding in the present paper is that these three kinds of Schottky diodes are revealed to have different behaviours of high-temperature reverse currents. For the n-Si Schottky diode, a rise in temperature is accompanied by an increase in reverse current. The reverse current of the GaN Schottky diode decreases first and then increases with rising temperature. The AlGaN/GaN Schottky diode has a trend opposite to that of the GaN Schottky diode, and the dominant mechanisms are the effects of the piezoelectric polarization field and variation of two-dimensional electron gas charge density.     

Gate control characteristics in GaAs nanometer-scale Schottky wrap gate structures

Gate control characteristics of GaAs-based quantum wire transistors (QWRTrs) controlled by a nanometer-scale Schottky wrap gate (WPG) are investigated theoretically and experimentally. Gate bias dependence of the effective wire width of fabricated WPG QWRTrs determined theoretically as well as experimentally from Landau plots showed that the nanometer-scale WPG controls the potential very tightly near channel pinch-off and that the pinch-off threshold voltage is strongly dependent on the gate length, L_G, when L_G is shorter than 400 nm. The theory based on the three-dimensional (3D) potential simulation pointed out that Fermi level pinning on the semiconductor surface around the WPGs strongly affects the gate controllability in the nanometer-scale Schottky WPG structure.     

Electrical characteristics of Pt-ZnO Schottky nano-contact

The electrical characteristics of Pt-ZnO Schottky nano-contact have been studied. Well aligned ZnO nanorod arrays were synthesized by two-step wet-chemical method. A Pt-coated conducting probe of atomic force microscope was placed on the head face of the ZnO nanorod, thereby forming a Pt-ZnO nano-contact. The I-V characteristic curve shows that the Pt-ZnO nano-contact exhibits rectifying effect, like a Schottky diode with an ideality factor of 3.2 and a reverse-bias breakdown voltage more than -10 V. The st...     

Characterization of metal/GaN Schottky interfaces based on I–V–T characteristics

Interface properties of metal/n- and p-GaN Schottky diodes are studied by I–V–T and C–V–T measurements, and simulation of their characteristics. On the basis of the previously proposed “surface patch” model, the gross behavior of I–V–T characteristics, which includes Richardson plots together with temperature dependence of the effective Schottky barrier heights (SBHs) and n-values, can be well reproduced. Furthermore, the dependence of the true SBH on the metal work function was also deduced from high-temperature I–V curves, giving S-values of 0.28 and 0.20 for n- and p-GaN samples, respectively, and the interface Fermi level tends to be pinned at a characteristic energy of about two-third of the bandgap.