Transmission of high-energy electrons through metal-semiconductor Schottky junctions

Abstract

Using the electron beam of a scanning electron microscope as an external current source with tunable energy, we investigate the transport properties of high-energy electrons injected from vacuum into the metal layer of Pt/Cu/Si Schottky junctions. When the injection energy is varied between 1 and 30 keV, the current transmitted into the semiconductor increases by several orders of magnitude and reaches values orders of magnitude larger than the current injected from vacuum. Inspecting the energy dependence of the transmitted current we identify two transport regimes. In the limit of low injection energies and thick metal films, the transport is dominated by the formation and propagation of a secondary electron distribution in the metal layer. However, when the injection energy is sufficiently large and the metal layer sufficiently thin, electrons are transmitted into the semiconductor with negligible energy loss, i.e., the metal layer becomes essentially transparent. The transmitted current is then dominated by impact ionization in the semiconductor. When the metal layer of the Schottky junction is relatively thick and the injection energy of a few keV typically, the transmitted current increases abruptly. The origin of this abrupt change is interpreted as a combined effect of a quasiballistic electron transport in the metal layer and a sudden variation of the density of states in the semiconductor substrate.