Improved electrical performance of Erbium silicide Schottky diodes formed by pre-RTA amorphization of Si

• Main Authors: Tang, L. J., Tan, Eu Jin, Pey, Kin Leong, Chi, Dong Zhi, Lee, Pooi See
• Other Authors: School of Materials Science & Engineering
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2012
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Materials
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/95651; http://hdl.handle.net/10220/8338
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Erbium silicide Schottky diodes formed on Si(001) substrate using rapid thermal annealing method show degraded Schottky-barrier height ϕ_Beff and ideality factor due to the presence of silicide-induced microstructural defects which are likely sources of trap states. A method to improve the ϕ_Beff and of the diodes utilizing in situ Ar plasma cleaning to induce a light amorphization of the Si(001) substrate is proposed. Even though the diodes formed in this way are less textured and have a poorer interface, they are free of silicide-induced microstructural defects, leading to an overall improvement in current transport and conduction properties which can be modeled using inhomogenous Schottky contact model.