蒙特卡罗方法模拟金属-半导体接触的直接隧穿效应

运用自洽的蒙特卡罗方法模拟了肖特基接触的隧穿效应.模拟的内容包括具有不同的势垒高度的金属-半导体接触在正向和反向偏置下的工作状态.分析模拟结果可知,隧穿电流在反向偏置下起主要的作用.同时还模拟了引入肖特基效应后,SBD的工作特性,验证了模拟使用的物理模型.得到了与理论计算值符合的模拟结果.分析模拟结果表明,由于肖特基效应形成的金属-半导体接触势垒的降低,会在很大程度上影响金属-半导体接触的输运特性.     

Numerical analysis of inhomogeneous Schottky diode with discrete barrier height patches

The potential profile inside the semiconductor at the metal–semiconductor contact is simulated by numerically solving the Poisson equation and the drift diffusion equations for inhomogeneous Schottky diode. From the simulated potential and the electron and hole concentrations, the drift-diffusion current as a function of bias is calculated. The simulation is carried out for various distribution patterns of barrier height patches at the metal–semiconductor contact to study the effect of barrier inhomogeneities on the Schottky diode parameters, namely barrier height and ideality factor and their temperature dependence. It is found that barrier height decreases and ideality factor increases with increase in the deviation of discrete barrier height patches in the distribution. The resulting barrier parameters are studied to understand the effect of barrier inhomogeneities on the current–voltage characteristics of inhomogeneous Schottky contact.     

蒙特卡罗方法模拟金属-半导体接触的直接隧穿效应

运用自洽的蒙特卡罗方法模拟了肖特基接触的隧穿效应 .模拟的内容包括具有不同的势垒高度的金属 -半导体接触在正向和反向偏置下的工作状态 .分析模拟结果可知 ,隧穿电流在反向偏置下起主要的作用 .同时还模拟了引入肖特基效应后 ,SBD的工作特性 ,验证了模拟使用的物理模型 .得到了与理论计算值符合的模拟结果 .分析模拟结果表明 ,由于肖特基效应形成的金属 -半导体接触势垒的降低 ,会在很大程度上影响金属 -半导体接触的输运特性     

Numerical simulation study of current–voltage characteristics of a Schottky diode with inverse doped surface layer

The Poisson’s equation and drift–diffusion equations are used to simulate the current–voltage characteristics of Schottky diode with an inverse doped surface layer. The potential inside the bulk semiconductor near the metal–semiconductor contact is estimated by simultaneously solving these equations, and current as a function of bias through the Schottky diode is calculated for various inverse layer thicknesses and doping concentrations. The Schottky diode parameters are then extracted by fitting of simulated current–voltage data into thermionic emission diffusion equation. The obtained diode parameters are analyzed to study the effect of inverse layer thickness and doping concentration on the Schottky diode parameters and its behavior at low temperatures. It is shown that increase in inverse layer thickness and its doping concentration give rise to Schottky barrier height enhancement and a change in the ideality factor. The temperature dependences of Schottky barrier height and ideality factor are studied. The effect of temperature dependence of carrier mobility on the Schottky diode characteristics is also discussed.     

Analysis of I–V measurements on PtSi-Si Schottky structures in a wide temperature range

I–V Measurements on PtSi-Si Schottky structures in a wide temperature range from 90 to 350 K were carried out. The contributions of thermionic-emission current and various other current-transport mechanisms were assumed when evaluating the Schottky barrier height Φ₀. Thus the generation-recombination, tunneling and leak currents caused by inhomogeneities and defects at the metal-semiconductor interface were taken into account.

Taking the above-mentioned mechanisms and their temperature dependence into consideration in the Schottky diode model, an outstanding agreement between theory and experiment was achieved in a wide temperature range.

Excluding the secondary current-transport mechanisms from the total current, a more exact value of the thermionic-emission saturation current I_te and thus a more accurate value ofΦ_b was reached.

The barrier height Φ_b and the modified Richardson constant A^** were calculated from the plot of thermionic-emission saturation current I_te as a function of temperature too. The proposed method of finding Φ_b is independent of the exact values of the metal-semiconductor contact area A and of the modified Richardson constant A^**. This fact can be used for determination of Φ_b in new Schottky structures based on multicomponent semiconductor materials.

Using the experimentally evaluated value A^** = 1.796 × 10⁶ Am⁻²K⁻² for the barrier height determination from I–V characteristics the value of Φ_b = 0.881 ± 0.002 eV was reached independent of temperature.

The more exact value of barrier height Φ_b is a relevant input parameter for Schottky diode computer-aided modeling and simulation, which provided a closer correlation between the experimental and theoretical characteristics.     

Effect of Inverse Doped Surface Layer in Schottky Barrier Modification: A Numerical Study

Poisson’s equation and the drift–diffusion equations are used to simulate the current–voltage characteristics of a Schottky diode with an inverse doped surface layer. The potential inside the bulk semiconductor near the metal–semiconductor contact is estimated by simultaneously solving these equations, and then current as a function of bias through the Schottky diode is calculated. The Schottky diode parameters are extracted by fitting of simulated data to the thermionic emission diffusion equation. The simulation is carried out for various inverse layer thicknesses and doping concentrations. The obtained diode parameters are analyzed to study the effect of the inverse layer thickness and doping concentration on Schottky diode modification and its behavior at low temperatures. It is shown that an increase in the inverse layer thickness and doping concentration leads to Schottky barrier height enhancement and a change in the ideality factor. The temperature dependences of the Schottky barrier height and ideality factor are also studied.     

Inversion layer at the interface of Schottky diodes

An inversion layer can be present at the metal-semiconductor inteface of Schottky diodes with a high barrier and a lightly doped semiconductor. Its influence on the potential distribution and on the electric field distribution (especially on its maximum) is quite important and may be analyzed by means of an analytical model. The current characteristics calculated by the usual models are modified if one takes the inversion layer into account. In particular, the theoretical n of the Schottky diode is smaller than the value obtained from the usual depletion hypothesis, while the barrier height deduced from the experimental saturation current becomes larger. Excellent agreement between the experimental current characteristics of an PtSiSi diode and the combined model of thermionic emission-diffusion is obtained if the inversion layer is considered.     

Effect of photovoltage on current flow in metal-semiconductor schottky-barrier contacts

It is shown that changes in device characteristics and an increase in the light-to-electrical energy conversion efficiency in metal-semiconductor Schottky barrier contacts are associated with a peripheral electric field built into the contact. For contacts with longer perimeters, variations in device characteristics and the light-to-electrical energy conversion efficiency are significantly larger. Since the photovoltage and peripheral electric fields in the contact region are codirected with the intrinsic electric field of the space-charge region, contact illumination results in a larger increase in the “dead” zone in forward portions of current-voltage characteristics, a larger decrease in the effective Schottky barrier height, and an increase in the field electron emission. An increase in the reverse field emission under photovoltage leads to an increase in the recombination current in the space-charge region, which provides dc photocurrent flow in the circuit.     

A simple model for computer simulation of Schottky-barrier diodes

To simulate the electrical characteristics of metal-semiconductor Schottky barrier diodes, a numerical analysis program based on the Shockley's semiconductor equations has been established. The thermionic emissions of electrons and holes from semiconductor to metal as well as the electric field in the interfacial layer are taken as the derivative boundary conditions of the nonlinear equations. The forward and reverse current-voltage characteristics of various metal-silicon and metal-silicide-silicon Schottky barrier diodes can be simulated by properly choosing the zero-field barrier height and the interfacial-layer capacitance. The barrier height variation as a function of applied voltage is related to the space-charge density and the interfacial-layer capacitance. The nonideality of forward characteristics is attributed to the bending of majority carrier imref and the raising of barrier height. The soft behavior of reverse characteristics can be modeled in terms of the interfacial-layer capacitance.     

Low-frequency excess noise in metal—Silicon Schottky barrier diodes

Theoretical models for the generation-recombination noise and trapping noise in metal-semiconductor Schottky barrier diodes are developed. Low-frequency excess noise in Schottky barrier diodes is found to be dominated by the modulation of the barrier height φB caused by fluctuation in the charge state of traps or generation-recombination centers. This noise mechanism does not occur in p-n junctions. The bias and the temperature dependence of the generation-recombination noise is critically compared with the experimental data for forward diode current ranges from 3 to 300 µA and operating temperatures from -25° to 100°C. Trapping noise in Schottky barrier diodes is observed at low temperatures in diodes not intentionally doped with deep level impurities. The experimental results on trapping noise can be described by assuming that the trap states have a constant capture cross section and are uniformly distributed in space, as well as in energy. The surface potential at the diode periphery also has an important effect on the Schottky barrier diode noise. The best low-frequency noise behavior is found when the surface is at the flat-band condition. An accumulated surface is always associated with a large amount of low-frequency excess noise.     

Analysis of Schottky Barrier Height in Small Contacts Using a Thermionic‐Field Emission Model

This paper reports on estimating the Schottky barrier height of small contacts using a thermionic‐field emission model. Our results indicate that the logarithmic plot of the current as a function of bias voltage across the Schottky diode gives a linear relationship, while the plot as a function of the total applied voltage across a metal‐silicon contact gives a parabolic relationship. The Schottky barrier height is extracted from the slope of the linear line resulting from the logarithmic plot of current versus bias voltage across the Schottky diode. The result reveals that the barrier height decreases from 0.6 eV to 0.49 eV when the thickness of the barrier metal is increased from 500 Å to 900 Å. The extracted impurity concentration at the contact interface changes slightly with different Ti thicknesses with its maximum value at about 2.9×10²⁰ cm^?3, which agrees well with the results from secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) measurements.     

Mechanisms of current flow in metal-semiconductor ohmic contacts

Published data on the properties of metal-semiconductor ohmic contacts and mechanisms of current flow in these contacts (thermionic emission, field emission, thermal-field emission, and also current flow through metal shunts) are reviewed. Theoretical dependences of the resistance of an ohmic contact on temperature and the charge-carrier concentration in a semiconductor were compared with experimental data on ohmic contacts to II–VI semiconductors (ZnSe, ZnO), III–V semiconductors (GaN, AlN, InN, GaAs, GaP, InP), Group IV semiconductors (SiC, diamond), and alloys of these semiconductors. In ohmic contacts based on lightly doped semiconductors, the main mechanism of current flow is thermionic emission with the metal-semiconductor potential barrier height equal to 0.1–0.2 eV. In ohmic contacts based on heavily doped semiconductors, the current flow is effected owing to the field emission, while the metal-semiconductor potential barrier height is equal to 0.3–0.5 eV. In alloyed In contacts to GaP and GaN, a mechanism of current flow that is not characteristic of Schottky diodes (current flow through metal shunts formed by deposition of metal atoms onto dislocations or other imperfections in semiconductors) is observed.     

A single-heterostructure MOS injection laser

A single-heterostructure metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) diode is proposed to obtain laser action in direct-gap semiconductors. Conditions are outlined to achieve a higher minority-carrier injection ratio γ than is generally obtained in the metal-semiconductor Schottky diodes. Emitted photons are confined in the active layer by a novel combination of heterostructure dielectric discontinuity on one side and the perfectly reflecting surface of the barrier metal on the other. The threshold current density Jthis shown to be lower than conventional heterostructure lasers due to reduced optical losses in the proposed MOS structure.     

Current transport in an ion-implanted diode

In a Schottky diode, the diode saturation current is controlled by the barrier height at the metal and semi-conductor contact, assuming that the dominant current is due to thermionic emission. When ion implantation is used to increase the barrier height, both thermionic emission and drift-diffusion of carriers become important in calculating the current. Numerical methods are used in solving Poisson's equation and the current continuity equations for an ion implanted doping profile. The electron and hole current in the surface region are calculated as a function of the total implantation dosage. The results show that the decrease of saturation current and the increase of effective barrier height in an ion implanted diode is mainly due to the suppression of the thermionic emission current by the implanted impurity atoms, rendering the diode to act like a pn junction.     

Nature of forward and reverse saturation currents in metal—semiconductor contacts with the Schottky barrier

The heavy dependence of the saturation currents for the forward and reverse I–V characteristics of high-barrier (>0.6 V) metal-semiconductor cont acts with the Schottky barrier on their diameter D is determined by an additional electric field formed under the effect of the contact periphery; this field is built into and codirected with the intrinsic electric field of the contact. It prevents the motion of electrons through the contact when a forward bias is applied across it. An increase in contact diameters from 5 to 700 μm results in decreasing the difference in forward and reverse saturation currents from five orders of magnitude to almost zero. The increase in the contact diameter, thus, results in decreasing periphery effect and absolute value of the built4n electric field. Adecrease in the barrier height( ≤0.6 V for D = 5 μm) also results in almost complete coincidence of forward and reverse saturation currents. At the reverse portions of the I–V characteristics, the effect of the built-in field manifests itself in a significant decrease in the effective height of the potential barrier due to a decrease in its width near the top and the substantial increase in the field electron emission through the barrier for lower energies. At the forward portions, it manifests itself in almost complete absence of the forward currents at low biases.     

Barrier height enhancement of the Schottky barrier diode using a thin uniformly-doped surface layer

An analytic model for the barrier height enhancement of the Schottky barrier diode with the Mnp (or Mpn) structure, which considers the uniformly doped surface layer and the surface properties of the metal-semiconductor system, is presented. The maximum potential barrier and its precise location including the effect of the image-force potential have been calculated, which shows that the effective barrier height for the majority carriers without considering the image-force lowering will give erroneous predictions if the doped surface layer is very shallow or lightly doped. The built-in voltage of the Mnp structure based on the interfacial layer theory has also been calculated, which gives the exact dependence of the built-in voltage on the interface properties of the metal-semiconductor contact and the dose of the doped surface layer. Numerical results of the developed model have been computed and discussed, which may serve as the guide for the fabrication of the Schottky barrier (SB) and MIS solar cells with higher barrier height.     

New approach to the design and the fabrication of THz Schottkybarrier diodes

GaAs Schottky barrier diodes with near-ideal electrical and noise characteristics for mixing applications in the terahertz frequency range are described. The conventional formulas describing these characteristics are valid only in a limited forward bias range, corresponding to currents much smaller than the operating currents under submillimeter mixing conditions. Therefore, generalized analytical expressions for the I-V and C-V characteristics of the metal-semiconductor junction in the full bias range are given. A new numerical diode model is presented which takes into account not only the phenomena occurring at the junction, such as current dependent recombination and drift/diffusion velocities, but also the variations of electron mobility and electron temperature in the undepleted epi-layer. A diode fabrication process based on the electrolytic pulse etching of GaAs in combination with an in situ platinum plating for the formation of the Schottky contacts is described. Schottky barrier diodes with a diameter of 1 μm fabricated by this process have already shown excellent results in a 650-GHz waveguide mixer at room temperature     

The metal-overlap laterally-diffused (mold) Schottky diode

A novel uniform-field/breakdown structure is described consisting of a planar metal-overlap laterally-diffused (MOLD) Schottky diode. This structure has been demonstrated to be free of edge breakdown by numerical two-dimensional calculations. Experimentally obtained aluminum-silicon MOLD Schottky diodes have shown near-ideal characteristics in terms of breakdown voltage, reverse I–V characteristics and forward I–V characteristics. The barrier height determined from forward current measurements (zero-volts intercept and activation-energy plot) is 0.74 V.     

6H-SiC Schottky二极管的正向特性

提出了一种考虑Schottky结势垒不均匀性和界面层作用的Si C Schottky二极管( SBD)正向特性模型,势垒的不均匀性来自于Si C外延层上的各种缺陷,而界面层上的压降会使正向Schottky结的有效势垒增高.该模型能够对不同温度下Si C Schottky结正向特性很好地进行模拟,模拟结果和测量数据相符.它更适用于考虑器件温度变化的场合,从机理上说明了理想因子、有效势垒和温度的关系.     

Reliability and micro-structural properties of GaAs Schottky diodes for submillimeter-wave applications

Whisker contacted GaAs Schottky barrier diodes are the standard devices for mixing and multiplier applications in the THz frequency range. This is mainly due to their minimum parasitics and mature technology. But with the decreasing size of the anode contact, which is required for operation at high frequencies (up to approx. 3 THz), the reliability and the micro-structural understanding of the Schottky barrier becomes increasingly important. This contribution presents new results concerning the reliability of Schottky diodes and the physical properties of small-area Schottky junctions, especially at low current densities. For these purposes a number of different Schottky diodes have been fabricated with different epilayer doping concentrations and anode diameters. Measured I/V characteristics show that the diode current deviates considerably from the ideal thermionic current behavior with decreasing diode diameter. This deviation shows an exponential dependence on the diode voltage and is a function of the doping concentration of the active layer. For a given doping concentration in the epi-layer and decreasing anode diameter, this phenomenon shifts the minimum of the ideality factor towards higher current densities. An explanation is given in terms of a difference of the cyrstallinity of the polycrystalline platinum films on the GaAs for decreasing SiO₂ aperture size in connection with a reduced Pt mobility in the electrolyte. The reliability of Schottky barrier diodes under thermal and electrical stress has been investigated on different THz Schottky diode structures. The results show that the barrier height and the ideality factor of the fabricated structures are not affected by thermal stress. Electrical stress induced by large forward currents up to a current density of 10 kA/mm² even leads to a slight increase of the barrier height and a reduction of the series resistance.