Current Transport in Cryogenic Processed Metal/InP and GaAs Interfaces

Abstract

ABSTRACTSchottky contacts to n type InP and GaAs have been made by deposition on substrates cooled to low temperature (LT=77K) in a vacuum close to 10-7 Torr.The Schottky barrier height, ФB, was found to be as high as 0.96eV with Pd/InP and 0.95eV for Au/GaAs. This indicated a significant increase in ФB compared with the room temperature (RT=300K) deposition. For diodes fabricated at room temperature, the reverse saturation current density, JO, decreased sharply with decrease in measuring temperature. For the RT InP diodes, the conduction mechanism was controlled by thermionic emission (TE). For the LT InP diodes, the value of JO was about six orders smaller than for the RT diode at the same temperature. As testing temperature decreased, the barrier height was increased from 0.96 to 1.15eV, with a temperature coefficient of -3.2 x 10-4 eV/K. The forward transport mechanism was controlled by thermionic field emission (TFE). For the GaAs diodes, thermionic emission (TE) dominated in the current transport at room temperature for both RT and LT diodes. At low testing temperature, RT diodes exhibited an excess current component at low forward bias.