Temperature dependent electrical characteristics of Sn/p-Si Schottky diodes Enise Ayyildiz a, * , Hidayet Cetin b , Zs. J. Horva ´th c a Erciyes University, Faculty of Sciences and Arts, Department of Physics, 38039 Kayseri, Turkey b Erciyes University, Yozgat Faculty of Sciences and Arts, Department of Physics, 66100 Yozgat, Turkey c Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Research Institute for Technical Physics and Materials Science, H-1325 Budapest, Hungary Received 18 May 2004; received in revised form 2 February 2005; accepted 3 February 2005 Available online 12 March 2005 Abstract Current–voltage and capacitance–voltage characteristics of Sn/p-Si Schottky diodes measured in the temperature range 80– 320 K are presented and analysed. Anomalous strong temperature dependencies of the ideality factor and apparent barrier height were obtained. There was also a considerable difference between the apparent barrier heights obtained from current–voltage and capacitance–voltage characteristics. These anomalies are explained by the domination of the current by a high level of thermionic-field emission, and by the presence of deep levels near the Sn/Si interface, which yield a reduction of free hole concentration and a significant temperature dependence of the charge stored near the metal–semiconductor (MS) interface. The evaluation of temperature dependence of forward current for thermionic-field emission resulted in the following parameters: characteristic energy E 00 = 9.8 meV, Schottky barrier height at zero bias F b0 = 0.802 eV, bias coefficient of barrier height b = 0, and effective Richardson constant A* = 37.32 A cm 2 K 2 . # 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Thermionic-field emission; Schottky junctions; Current–voltage and capacitance–voltage characteristics 1. Introduction Schottky junctions are ones of the most widely used rectifying junctions in the electronics industry [1–7]. Due to the technological importance of Schottky diodes, a full understanding of the nature of their electrical characteristics is of great interest. It is well known that Schottky junctions often possess a thin interfacial insulating layer between the metal and the semiconductor. A complete description of the charge carrier transport through metal–semiconductor (MS) and metal–insulating layer–semiconductor (MIS) contacts is still a challenging problem. Physically, a good Schottky contact will consist of a uniform metal film, which adheres well to the semiconductor surface. The electrical requirements for a good Schottky diode are an ideality factor approaching 1, low series resistance and low reverse leakage currents. Analysis www.elsevier.com/locate/apsusc Applied Surface Science 252 (2005) 1153–1158 * Corresponding author. Tel.: +90 352 437 49 37; fax: +90 352 437 49 33. E-mail address: enise@erciyes.edu.tr (E. Ayyildiz). 0169-4332/$ – see front matter # 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.apsusc.2005.02.044