9. Schottky Diode and Ohmic Contact

Download as pdf or txt
Download as pdf or txt
You are on page 1of 25

Schottky Diode and

Ohmic Contact
Şenol Mutlu
Point-contact diodes
Point-contact diodes were developed
starting in the 1930s, out of the early crystal
detector technology, and are now generally
used in the 3 to 30 gigahertz range. They
use a small diameter metal wire in contact
with a semiconductor crystal. The metal
side is the pointed end of a small diameter
wire that is in contact with the
semiconductor crystal. Point contact diodes
generally exhibit lower capacitance, higher
forward resistance and greater reverse
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diode
leakage than junction diodes.

Semiconductors and Electronic Devices 1


Outline
• Work Function
• Metal-Semiconductor Junction
• Schottky Diode
• Ohmic Contact

Semiconductors and Electronic Devices 2


Work Function
E0: vacuum energy level

𝑞𝜒𝑆𝑖 = 4.03 𝑒𝑉

FM: metal work function

FS: semiconductor work function


𝑞𝜒 (the electron affinity) is measured
from the vacuum level to the
Wikipedia
semiconductor conduction band edge.
𝐸𝑛 = ℎ𝜐 − 𝑞Φ𝑀 Energy of emitted electron Photoelectric Effect
Semiconductors and Electronic Devices 3
Metal-Semiconductor Contacts
There are 2 kinds of metal-semiconductor contacts:
+ VA _
• rectifying I
Metal Si
“Schottky diode”

• non-rectifying
“ohmic contact” I
𝑉𝐴
𝐼=
𝑅𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑐𝑡

VA

Semiconductors and Electronic Devices 4


Ideal MS Contact: FM > FS, n-type
+ VA _

I
Band diagram
instantly after
contact
formation:
Schottky diode

Schottky Barrier
ΦBn = ΦM − 𝜒
Equilibrium
band 𝑞𝑉bi = ΦBn − (𝐸𝐶 − 𝐸𝐹 )𝐹𝐵
diagram 2𝜀𝑠 𝑉𝑏𝑖
𝑊=
𝑞𝑁𝐷
Semiconductors and Electronic Devices 5
Schottky Diode
𝑞𝑉𝐴
𝐼= 𝐼0 (𝑒 𝑘𝑇 − 1)
𝐼0 ∝ 𝑒 −𝑞Φ𝐵𝑛/𝑘𝑇
• The barrier (ΦM − 𝜒) for the ideal case is unaffected by the bias
voltage.
• The forward current is due to the injection of majority carriers from
the semiconductor into the metal.
• The absence of minority carrier injection and the associated
storage delay time is an important feature of Schottky barrier
diodes.
• Their high-frequency properties and switching speed are
therefore generally better than typical p-n junctions.
• Schottky diode is a unipolar device, while the PN junction diode is
a bipolar device. The current flow across a Schottky diode is only
due to electrons. While in a pn junction diode, the current flow
through the diode is due to electrons and holes.
Semiconductors and Electronic Devices 6
Ideal MS Contact: FM < FS, n-type

Ohmic Contact

Band diagram instantly


after contact formation

Equilibrium band diagram


Semiconductors and Electronic Devices 7
Ideal MS Contact: FM < FS, p-type

Schottky diode

ΦB𝑝

Band diagram instantly after


ΦB𝑝 = 𝐸G + 𝜒 − ΦM contact formation:

Equilibrium band diagram


Semiconductors and Electronic Devices 8
Ideal MS Contact: FM > FS, p-type

Ohmic Contact

Band diagram instantly after


contact formation:

Equilibrium band diagram


Semiconductors and Electronic Devices 9
Effect of Interface States on FBn

An interesting case is n-type InAs, in which


EF at the interface is pinned above the
conduction band edge. As a result, ohmic
EF is pinned near Ec - 0.8 eV in n-type contact to n-type InAs can be made by
GaAs, regardless of the choice of metal. depositing virtually any metal on the surface.

Real MS contacts: Due to surface states, the interfacial layer, microscopic


clusters of metal–semiconductor phases, and other effects, it is difficult to
fabricate junctions with barriers predicted from the work functions of the
two isolated materials. Therefore, measured barrier heights are used in
device design. A high density of allowed energy states in the bandgap at
the MS interface pins EF to the range 0.4 eV to 0.9 eV below Ec.
Semiconductors and Electronic Devices 10
Pinning of EF
• Unlike a p-n junction, which occurs within a single crystal, a Schottky
barrier junction includes a termination of the semiconductor crystal.
• The semiconductor surface contains surface states due to incomplete
covalent bonds and other effects, which can lead to charges at the
metal–semiconductor interface. The contact is seldom an atomically
sharp discontinuity between the semiconductor crystal and the metal.
• There is typically a thin interfacial layer, which is neither semiconductor
nor metal. For example, silicon crystals are covered by a thin (10-20 Å)
oxide layer even after etching or cleaving in atmospheric conditions.
• Deposition of a metal on such a Si surface leaves a glassy interfacial
layer at the junction. Although electrons can tunnel through this thin
layer, it does affect the barrier to current transport through the junction.
• In compound semiconductors the interfacial layer introduces states in
the semiconductor band gap that pin the Fermi level at a fixed position,
regardless of the metal used. For example, a collection of interface
states located 0.7∼0.9 eV below the conduction band pins EF at the
surface of n-type GaAs, and the Schottky barrier height is determined
from this pinning effect rather than by the work function of the metal.
Semiconductors and Electronic Devices 11
Schottky Barrier Heights: Metal on Si
Metal Er Ti Ni W Mo Pt
FM (eV) 3.12 4.3 4.7 4.6 4.6 5.6
FBn (eV) 0.44 0.5 0.61 0.67 0.68 0.73
FBp (eV) 0.68 0.61 0.51 0.45 0.42 0.39
• FBn tends to increase with increasing metal work function

Schottky Barrier Heights: Silicide on Si


Silicide ErSi1.7 TiSi2 CoSi2 NiSi WSi2 PtSi
FM (eV) 3.78 4.18 4.6 4.65 4.7 5
FBn (eV) 0.3 0.6 0.64 0.65 0.65 0.84
FBp (eV) 0.8 0.52 0.48 0.47 0.47 0.28
Silicide-Si interfaces are more stable than metal-silicon interfaces. After
metal is deposited on Si, a thermal annealing step is applied to form a
silicide-Si contact. The term metal-silicon contact includes silicide-Si
contacts. For Si, good Schottky barriers are formed by various metals, such
as Au or Pt. In the case of Pt, heat treatment results in a platinum silicide
layer providing a reliable Schottky barrier with ΦB ≃ 0.85 V on n-type Si.
Semiconductors and Electronic Devices 12
The Depletion Approximation
The semiconductor is depleted of mobile carriers to a depth W
𝑥 < 𝑥𝑛 (depletion width)
𝑛 = 0, 𝑝 = 0
 In the depleted region (0  x  W ):
r = q (ND – NA)

Beyond the depleted region (x > W ):


r=0 𝑛 = 𝑛0 , 𝑝 = 𝑝0

Semiconductors and Electronic Devices 13


Electrostatics

𝜕ℇ 𝜌 𝑞𝑁𝐷
• Poisson’s equation: = ≅
𝜕𝑥 𝜀s 𝜀s +
𝑞𝑁𝐷 -
ℇ=න 𝑑𝑥 → ℇ = 𝐴𝑥 + 𝐵
𝜀𝑠
𝑞𝑁𝐷
ℇ 𝑥 =𝑊 =0; ℇ 𝑥 =0 − 𝑊
𝜀𝑠
𝑞𝑁𝐷
• The solution is: ℇ 𝑥 = − 𝑊−𝑥 𝑞𝑁𝐷
𝜀s 𝑠𝑙𝑜𝑝𝑒 =
𝜀s
𝑑𝑉 1
ℇ=− 𝑉 𝑥 = − නℇ(𝑥 ′ )𝑑𝑥 ′ ℇ𝑚𝑎𝑥 𝑊 = 𝑉𝑏𝑖
𝑑𝑥 2
−𝑞𝑁𝐷
𝑉 𝑥 = 𝑊−𝑥 2
2𝐾𝑆 𝜀0
W decreases
2𝜀𝑠 𝑉𝑏𝑖 𝑉 𝑊 =0
At x = 0, V = -Vbi ⇒ 𝑊 = with increasing
𝑞𝑁𝐷 ND

Semiconductors and Electronic Devices 14


Current Flow in a Schottky Diode
Metal is positive with respect to semiconductor
FORWARD BIAS •
Current is determined by
Unchanged Lowered
barrier
majority-carrier flow across
qVA barrier
-e the MS junction:
– Under forward bias,
majority-carrier diffusion
from the semiconductor
Metal is negative wrt semiconductor into the metal dominates
REVERSE BIAS – Under reverse bias, the
barrier, which restricts the
-e
electrons to the metal, is
unchanged so that the flow
qIVAI
of electrons is limited by
that barrier independent of
the applied voltage.

Semiconductors and Electronic Devices 15


Voltage Drop across the MS Diode

• Under equilibrium conditions


qVbi
(VA = 0), the voltage drop
across the semiconductor
depletion region is the built-in
voltage Vbi.
q(Vbi-VA)
• If VA  0, the voltage drop
across the semiconductor
depletion region is Vbi - VA.
q(Vbi-VA)

Semiconductors and Electronic Devices 16


Depleted Layer Width, W, for VA  0
+ VA _ I forward bias
I
Metal n-Si
VA
Reverse bias
Last time, we found that
−𝑞𝑁𝐷 2
𝑉 𝑥 = 𝑊−𝑥
2𝐾𝑆 𝜀0
At x = 0, V = - (Vbi - VA)

2𝜀𝑠 (𝑉𝑏𝑖 − 𝑉𝐴 )
⇒ 𝑊=
𝑞𝑁𝐷
• W decreases with forward bias: VA is positive
• W increases with reverse bias: VA is negative
• W decreases with increasing ND
Semiconductors and Electronic Devices 17
W for p-type Semiconductor
I
+ VA _
I Reverse bias
Metal p-Si
VA
forward bias

𝑞𝑁𝐴 2
𝑉 𝑥 = 𝑊−𝑥
2𝐾𝑆 𝜀0
At x = 0, V = Vbi + VA

2𝜀𝑠 (𝑉𝐴 + 𝑉𝑏𝑖 )


⇒ 𝑊=
𝑞𝑁𝐴

• W increases with increasing VA


• W decreases with increasing NA
Semiconductors and Electronic Devices 18
Thermionic Emission Theory

• Electrons can cross the junction into the metal if


1
K.E.𝑥 = 𝑚𝑣𝑥 2 ≥ 𝑞 𝑉𝑏𝑖 − 𝑉𝐴
2
2𝑞
𝑣𝑥 ≥ 𝑣𝑚𝑖𝑛 ≡ ∗ 𝑉𝑏𝑖 − 𝑉𝐴
𝑚𝑛
• Thus the current for electrons at a given velocity is:
𝐼𝑠•→𝑀,𝑣𝑥 = −𝑞𝐴𝑣𝑥 𝑛(𝑣𝑥 )
• So, the total current over the barrier is:
−𝑣𝑚𝑖𝑛

𝐼𝑠•→𝑀 = −𝑞𝐴 න 𝑣𝑥 𝑛(𝑣𝑥 )𝑑𝑣𝑥


−∞

Semiconductors and Electronic Devices 19


Schottky Diode I - V
• For a nondegenerate semiconductor, it can be shown
that
4𝜋𝑘𝑇𝑚𝑛∗ 2 𝐸 −𝐸 /𝑘𝑇 − 𝑚∗ /2𝑘𝑇 𝑣 2
𝑛 𝑣𝑥 = 3
𝑒 𝐹 𝑐 𝑒 𝑛 𝑥

• We can then obtain
effective Richardson constant
4𝜋𝑞𝑚𝑛∗ 𝑘 2 2 −Φ /𝑘𝑇 𝑞𝑉 /𝑘𝑇
𝐼𝑆•→𝑀 = 3
𝐴𝑇 𝑒 𝐵 𝑒 𝐴

𝑚 ∗
𝑛 2 −Φ𝐵 /𝑘𝑇
= 𝐴𝐽𝑆 𝑒 𝑞𝑉𝐴/𝑘𝑇 ,where 𝐽𝑆 ≡ 120 𝑇 𝑒 A/cm2
𝑚0
• In the reverse direction, the electrons always see the
same barrier FB, so
𝐼𝑀•→𝑆 = −𝐼𝑆•→𝑀 𝑉𝐴 = 0
• Therefore
𝐼 = 𝐼𝑆 (𝑒 𝑞𝑉𝐴/𝑘𝑇 − 1) where 𝐼𝑆 = 𝐴𝐽𝑆
Semiconductors and Electronic Devices 20
Applications of Schottky Diodes
• IS of a Schottky diode is 103 to 108 times larger than that
of a pn junction diode, depending on FB .
→ Schottky diodes are preferred rectifiers for low-
voltage, high-current applications.

Semiconductors and Electronic Devices 21


Practical Ohmic Contact

• In practice, most M-S contacts are rectifying


• To achieve a contact which conducts easily in
both directions, we dope the semiconductor
very heavily (in the range 1019 – 1020 cm-3)
→ W is so narrow that carriers can tunnel directly
through the barrier (W < 10 nm)

Semiconductors and Electronic Devices 22


Tunneling Probability

Equilibrium Band Diagram Band Diagram for VA0


FBn
2 s F Bn qVbiFBn q(Vbi-VA)
W EFM Ec, EFS EFM Ec, EFS
qN D

Ev Ev
w

tunneling probability 𝑃 = 𝑒 −𝐻(Φ𝐵𝑛−𝑉𝐴)Τ 𝑁𝐷 ∝ 𝑒 −𝑊 Φ𝐵

where 𝐻 = 4𝜋 𝜀𝑠 𝑚𝑛∗ /ℎ = 5.4 × 109 𝑚𝑛∗ /𝑚𝑜 cm−3/2 V −1


𝐽𝑆→𝑀 ≈ 𝑞𝑃𝑁𝐷 𝑣𝑡ℎ𝑥 = 𝑞𝑁𝐷 𝑘𝑇/2𝜋𝑚𝑛∗ 𝑒 −𝐻(Φ𝐵𝑛−𝑉𝐴)/ 𝑁𝐷

~0 (small)

Semiconductors and Electronic Devices 23


Specific Contact Resistivity, rc
• Unit: W-cm2
– rc is the resistance of a 1 cm2 contact
𝜌𝑐 = 10−7 Ω𝑐𝑚2 → 10−8 Ω𝑐𝑚2
• For a practical ohmic contact,
→want small FB, large ND for small contact resistance
𝜌𝑐
𝑅𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑐𝑡 = 𝜌𝑐 ∝ 𝑒 𝐻Φ𝐵 / 𝑁𝐷
𝐴𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑐𝑡

Example: For contact area of 0.1 µm × 1 µm = 10-9 cm2


𝜌𝑐 10−7 Ω𝑐𝑚2
𝑅𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑐𝑡 = = = 100 Ω
𝐴𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑐𝑡 10−9 𝑐𝑚−2

• Ideally, Rcontact is very small, so little voltage is


dropped across the ohmic contact, i.e. VA 0V
→ equilibrium conditions prevail
Semiconductors and Electronic Devices 24
Summary

Ec Ec
EF
Ev EF Ev
Ec Ec
EF
EF Ev
Ev

Since it is difficult to achieve small FB, practical ohmic


contacts are achieved with heavy doping:

EF Ec Ec
Ev EF Ev

Semiconductors and Electronic Devices 25

You might also like