DEE4521

Semiconductor Device Physics

Metal-Semiconductor System

Prof. Ming-Jer Chen Department of Electronics Engineering National Chiao-Tung University 03/21/2011
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Band Bending at Surface of Semiconductors Depletion (suitable for a contactsemiconductor system, as suggested by many and many experiments done before)

Accumulation (not suitable for a contactsemiconductor system) Inversion (not suitable for a contactsemiconductor system)
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How to establish device physics for this case? (given a Doping concentration, two Ohmic contacts, and a supply voltage)
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Low-resistance metal-semiconductor contacts using degenerate surface layers. Metal-n+n contact (a) and metal-p+p contact (b). The Ohmic barrier is thin enough to permit tunneling.

Figure 6.23

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How do holes and electrons communicate with each other at the interface?

Metal-Semiconductor System (or Junction):

Ohmic Contact -- Two-way conduction -- Zero resistance or potential drop -- Equilibrium at both sides Schottky Contact -- Usually for one-way conduction -- Considerable potential drop -- Usually One-sided equilibrium

Energy band diagram as predicted by the electron affinity model for an Al:n-Si metal semiconductor junction: (a) Neutrality (b) equilibrium. The predicted barrier of 0.10 eV from metal to semiconductor is much less than the experimental value of about 0.7 eV. A more refined model is required.

Figure 6.18

These two diagrams are wrong!

Must be band bending up, NOT down, for n-type.

accumulation
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(a) The neutrality diagram for the Al:n-Si Schottky barrier diode including the tunneling-induced dipole effect. (b) The equilibrium energy band diagram for an Al:n-Si Schottky barrier diode.

Figure 6.19

This is the depletion case by bending band up for n-type.

Wrong band diagram

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Correct band diagram

Energy band diagrams for a metal:n-semiconductor Schottky barrier. (a) For forward bias, electrons flow from semiconductor to metal. (b) For reverse bias, only a small leakage current flows. (c) For the first-order model, the metal-semiconductor barrier (EB(0) = EC(x = 0) - Efm) is independent of applied voltage.

Figure 6.20

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Xm = (2sVj/qND)1/2

A Schottky barrier diode made with a p-type semiconductor. (a) Equilibrium; (b) forward bias; (c) reverse bias.

Figure 6.21

band bending down, for p-type.

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Comparison of the I-Va characteristics of a Schottky diode and a pn junction diode. The scale for the reverse characteristic is compressed compared with the scale for forward bias.

Figure 6.22

Ohmic Contact
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