Electrical Properties of Nanometer-Sized Schottky Contacts for Gate Control of III–V Single Electron Devices and Quantum Devices

Abstract

The electrical properties of nanometer-sized Schottky contacts formed on n-GaAs and n-InP substrates by an in situ electrochemical process were studied both experimentally and theoretically to understand and improve their gate control behavior in single electron devices and quantum devices. From the current–voltage (I–V) measurements using a conductive atomic force microscope (AFM) system, the nano-Schottky contacts showed nonlinear log I–V characteristics with large and voltage-dependent n values which cannot be explained by the 1D thermionic emission model. The behavior was explained by a novel 3D thermionic emission model including 3D potential distribution modified by an environmental Fermi-level pinning. The depletion characteristics were calculated on the basis of the new model including the environmental effects. The results showed small changes of the depletion layer width with a bias underneath the nano-Schottky contacts due to the environmental Fermi-level pinning. Control of Fermi-level pinning is thus crucial to obtain nano devices in the quantum regime that exhibit good behavior.