Schottky heights

J.-F. Fan, H. Oigawa, Y. Nannichi, Metal-Dependent Schottky Height with the (NH4)2Sx Treated GaAs. Jap. J. Appl. Phys. 1988, 27(11), L2125-L2127. 

Fig. 9. Schottky barrier band diagrams (a) a rare situation where the metal work function is less than the semiconductor electron work affinity resulting in an ohmic contact (b) normal Schottky barrier with barrier height When the depletion width Wis <10 nm, an ohmic contact forms.

Table 7. Schottky Barrier Heights for Metals on Compound Semiconductors...

The degree of surface cleanliness or even ordering can be determined by REELS, especially from the intense VEELS signals. The relative intensity of the surface and bulk plasmon peaks is often more sensitive to surface contamination than AES, especially for elements like Al, which have intense plasmon peaks. Semiconductor surfaces often have surface states due to dangling bonds that are unique to each crystal orientation, which have been used in the case of Si and GaAs to follow in situ the formation of metal contacts and to resolve such issues as Fermi-level pinning and its role in Schottky barrier heights. 

In this context it should be mentioned that the height of the Schottky barrier depends on the proc iure of metal deposition and also on the pretreatment. Aspnes and Heller have investigated for instance metal-semiconductor contacts produced by depositing Ru, Rh or Pt as 400 A thick films. They found barrier heights for the metal in contact with air, of 0.6 eV for Ru on Ti02, which decreased to zero in the presence of hydrogen. These results are consistent with those of Yamamoto et al. . ... 

The electrical contact with the bulk of the doped crystal is made through a very heavily doped layer, to reduce the height of the Schottky barrier between the bulk and the metal of the external contact (Au). The charge carriers cross this layer by tunnel effect. 

The Schottky-Mott theory predicts a current / = (4 7t e m kB2/h3) T2 exp (—e A/kB 7) exp (e n V/kB T)— 1], where e is the electronic charge, m is the effective mass of the carrier, kB is Boltzmann s constant, T is the absolute temperature, n is a filling factor, A is the Schottky barrier height (see Fig. 1), and V is the applied voltage [31]. In Schottky-Mott theory, A should be the difference between the Fermi level of the metal and the conduction band minimum (for an n-type semiconductor-to-metal interface) or the valence band maximum (for a p-type semiconductor-metal interface) [32, 33]. Certain experimentally observed variations of A were for decades ascribed to pinning of states, but can now be attributed to local inhomogeneities of the interface, so the Schottky-Mott theory is secure. The opposite of a Schottky barrier is an ohmic contact, where there is only an added electrical resistance at the junction, typically between two metals. 

The surface between grains is usually a region of increased electrical potential compared to the bulk, so that a barrier to conductivity occurs across the boundary. These grain boundary potentials are often called Schottky barriers. The height and form of the barrier depends sensitively upon the materials in contact. 

Schottky diode sensors based on other wide bandgap materials have also been investigated, as previously mentioned. GaN Schottky diodes processed on either the Ga or N face have been examined by Schalwig et al. [11,21]. A Pt/GaN Schottky diode with a barrier height of 1-eV has been shown to reversibly transform into an ohmic contact through exposure to [94]. Kokobun et al. have also investigated Pt-GaN Schottky diodes as hydrogen sensors up to 600°C [15]. 

Heterojunctions of polythiophene with polypyrrole [195] and Cds [196] of the Schottky type were constructed and tested. The height of the barrier was 0.8 eV. The photogeneration of the charge carrier takes place in the depletion layer of the thiophene with consequent separation in the barrier electric field. 

Figure 4.2(d) shows that an energy barrier forms at the semiconductor/redox electrolyte interface, similar to the Schottky barrier at a metal/semiconductor interface. The most important quantity is the barrier height (q ) or the flat band potential U, which essentially determines the surface band positions of the semiconductor with respect to the energy levels of solution species. The q B is given for an n-type semiconductor by... 

Metals, such as platinum, are usually introduced to improve the electron-hole separation efficiency. In order to analyze the energy structure of the metal-loaded particulate semiconductor, we solved the two-dimensional Poisson-Boltzmann equation.3) When the metal is deposited to the semiconductor by, for example, evaporation, a Schottky barrier is usually formed.45 For the Schottky type contact, the barrier height increases with an increase of the work function of the metal,4 which should decrease the photocatalytic activity. However, higher activity was actually observed for the metal with a higher work function.55 This results from the fact that ohmic contact with deposited metal particles is established in photocatalysts when the deposited semiconductor is treated by heat65 or metal is deposited by the photocatalytic reaction.75 Therefore, in the numerical computation we assumed ohmic contact at the energy level junction of the metal and semiconductor. 

The width of the space charge layer depends on the height of the Schottky barrier according to... 

The atomic geometry of a surface or interface is, in certain respects, its most fundamental property. Since most surfaces and interfaces are metastable, especially those of technological interest, their composition and structure depends on their process history. Their structures determine, moreover, the "interesting" interfacial properties which are utilized in specific applications, e.g., reactivity and specificity in catalysis or Schottky barrier height in metal-semiconductor contacts. In addition, the interface structure is measurable by one or more of the techniques noted earlier. Therefore the structure of an interface is a measurable link between the process used to prepare it and the electronic and chemical properties which determine its utility. 

Schottky barrier height modulation and stabilization as a "by product" of the original studies. Moreover, since these results are thought to follow from replacement reactions in the vicinity of the interface, they reflect the importance of surface structure as well as composition at semiconductor interfaces. 

The preparation or etching of compound semiconductors is more complex due to the potential of altering the surface stoichiometry. Shiota et al. (36) used AES to show that the final As/Ga at the surface of GaAs was very dependent on the chemical activity of wet chemical etchants. Bertrand was able to follow the changes in the chemical bonding of Ga and As on p-type GaAs etched in HC1 or Br in methanol and relate this to Schottky barrier heights of similarly prepared surfaces with Pb contacts (37). 

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