Analysis of Schottky barrier height in small contacts using a thermionic-field emission model

Abstract

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.