Current–voltage characteristics of a Co/Ni bilayer nanofilm

Abstract

Widespread interest in optical and electrical properties of nanostructured systems began more than 20 years ago. Here, optical and electrical properties of Co/Ni bilayer nanofilms are explored. These optical and electrical properties were described in terms of a common confined wavefunction spanning both Co and Ni layers. The effective relative electron mass parameter f estimated for this bilayer film was about 0.1489. Temperature dependence of the current–voltage characteristics of the Co/Ni bilayer nanofilms was described as that of a Schottky diode with the Schottky barrier height of US = 24 cm−1, very small compared to other semiconducting materials. Therefore, Co/Ni bilayer nanofilms apparently had semiconducting properties, which may approximately be described using Schottky diode theory. Such semiconducting properties of bilayer metal nanofilms could be used in special low-temperature low-consumption electronic devices.