Potential barrier heights at metal on oxygen-terminated diamond interfaces

Journal Article · Sat Nov 28 00:00:00 EST 2015 · Journal of Applied Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4936317· OSTI ID:22489521

Traoré, A.; Maréchal, A.; Eon, D. ^[1]; Pernot, J. ^[2]; Pinero, J. C.; Villar, M. P.

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1. Inst. NEEL, Univ. Grenoble Alpes, F-38042 Grenoble, France and CNRS, Inst. NEEL, F-38042 Grenoble (France)
2. Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Inst. NEEL, F-38042 Grenoble, (France)

Electrical properties of metal-semiconductor (M/SC) and metal/oxide/SC structures built with Zr or ZrO{sub 2} deposited on oxygen-terminated surfaces of (001)-oriented diamond films, comprised of a stack of lightly p-doped diamond on a heavily doped layer itself homoepitaxially grown on an Ib substrate, are investigated experimentally and compared to different models. In Schottky barrier diodes, the interfacial oxide layer evidenced by high resolution transmission electron microscopy and electron energy losses spectroscopy before and after annealing, and barrier height inhomogeneities accounts for the measured electrical characteristics until flat bands are reached, in accordance with a model which generalizes that by Tung [Phys. Rev. B 45, 13509 (1992)] and permits to extract physically meaningful parameters of the three kinds of interface: (a) unannealed ones, (b) annealed at 350 °C, (c) annealed at 450 °C with the characteristic barrier heights of 2.2–2.5 V in case (a) while as low as 0.96 V in case (c). Possible models of potential barriers for several metals deposited on well defined oxygen-terminated diamond surfaces are discussed and compared to experimental data. It is concluded that interface dipoles of several kinds present at these compound interfaces and their chemical evolution due to annealing are the suitable ingredients that are able to account for the Mott-Schottky behavior when the effect of the metal work function is ignored, and to justify the reverted slope observed regarding metal work function, in contrast to the trend always reported for all other metal-semiconductor interfaces.

• OSTI ID: 22489521
• Journal Information: Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 118, Issue 20; Other Information: (c) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0021-8979
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
ANNEALING
DIAMONDS
DOPED MATERIALS
ENERGY-LOSS SPECTROSCOPY
FILMS
INTERFACES
LAYERS
METALS
OXYGEN
RESOLUTION
SCHOTTKY BARRIER DIODES
SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIALS
SUBSTRATES
SURFACES
TEMPERATURE RANGE 0400-1000 K
TRANSMISSION ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
WORK FUNCTIONS
ZIRCONIUM OXIDES