Investigation of the inhomogeneous barrier height of an Au/Bi4Ti3O12/n-Si structure through Gaussian distribution of barrier height

Abstract

A Au/Bi4Ti3O12/n-Si structure is fabricated in order to investigate its current—voltage (I–V) characteristics in a temperature range of 300 K–400 K. Obtained I–V data are evaluated by the thermionic emission (TE) theory. Zero-bias barrier height (ΦB0) and ideality factor (n) calculated from I–V characteristics, are found to be temperature-dependent such that ΦB0 increases with temperature increasing, whereas n decreases. The obtained temperature dependence of ΦB0 and linearity in ΦB0 versus the n plot, together with a lower barrier height and Richardson constant values obtained from the Richardson plot, indicate that the barrier height of the structure is inhomogeneous in nature. Therefore, I–V characteristics are explained on the basis of Gaussian distribution of barrier height.