Alloying and entropy effects in predicting metal/compound–semiconductor interface reactivity

Abstract

A previous bulk thermodynamic model, which used enthalpies of compound and alloy formation to predict metal/compound–semiconductor interface reactivity, is extended to include entropy. It is shown that, for most metals on CdTe, GaAs, GaSe, InP, and MoS2, solid-state reactions are energetically favored up to semiconductor dissociation temperatures and, consequently, entropy effects are minimal. Gold and silver, with their small enthalpies of metal–semiconductor anion compound formation, can be exceptions. Even here, the results for gold/III–V systems favor solid-state reaction at room temperature, but at higher temperatures entropy drives the reaction via vapor-phase production of the group V element. The binary phase bulk thermodynamic model is not sufficient to predict absolute reactivity, but can rank the reactivity of the various metal–semiconductor combinations successfully, as long as possible alloy formation is included. It is suggested that the limitations of the model are due to the specific effects of the interface.