The Schottky barriers produced by polymeric sulfur nitride on compound semiconductors

Abstract

Schottky barriers produced by polymeric sulfur nitride, (SN)x, on nine common III-V and II-VI compound semiconductors are compared to barriers formed by Au. The conductor (SN)x produces significantly higher barriers to n-type semiconductors and lower barriers to p-type semiconductors than Au, the most electronegative elemental metal. The barrier height improvement, defined as ‖φ (SN)x−φ (Au) ‖, is smaller on covalent semiconductors than on ionic semiconductors; (SN)x barriers follow the ionic-covalent transition. Details of (SN)x film deposition, sample preparation, and barrier height measurements are described.