Using Atom-Probe Tomography to Understand ZnO:Al/SiO2/Si Schottky Diodes

Jaramillo, R.; Youssef, Amanda; Akey, Austin; Schoofs, Frank; Ramanathan, Shriram; Buonassisi, Tonio

doi:10.1103/PhysRevApplied.6.034016

Title: Using Atom-Probe Tomography to Understand $Zn O : Al / {Si O}_{2} / Si$ Schottky Diodes

Journal Article · Mon Sep 26 00:00:00 EDT 2016 · Physical Review Applied

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.6.034016· OSTI ID:1579857

Jaramillo, R. ^[1]; Youssef, Amanda ^[1]; Akey, Austin ^[1]; Schoofs, Frank ^[2]; Ramanathan, Shriram ^[3]; Buonassisi, Tonio ^[1]

Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA (United States)
Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA (United States); Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN (United States)

In this work, we use electronic transport and atom-probe tomography to study ZnO:Al=SiO₂=Si Schottky diodes on lightly doped n- and p-type Si. We vary the carrier concentration in the ZnO:Al films by 2 orders of magnitude, but the Schottky barrier height remains nearly constant. Atom-probe tomography shows that Al segregates to the interface, so that the ZnO:Al at the junction is likely to be metallic even when the bulk of the ZnO:Al film is semiconducting. We hypothesize that the observed Fermi-level pinning is connected to the insulator-metal transition in doped ZnO. In conclusion, this implies that tuning the band alignment at oxide/Si interfaces may be achieved by controlling the transition between localized and extended states in the oxide, thereby changing the orbital hybridization across the interface.

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Research Organization:: Stanford Univ., CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office

Grant/Contract Number:: EE0004946

OSTI ID:: 1579857

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1326861

Journal Information:: Physical Review Applied, Vol. 6, Issue 3; ISSN 2331-7019

Publisher:: American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 6 works

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