On the profile of temperature dependent series resistance in Al/Si 3 N 4 /p-Si (MIS) Schottky diodes M.M. Bu ¨lbu ¨l a, * , S. Zeyrek b ,S ß . Altındal a , H. Yu ¨zer c a Department of Physics, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Gazi University, 06500 Ankara, Turkey b Department of Physics, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Dumlupınar University, 43100 Ku ¨ tahya, Turkey c Material and Chemical Technologies Research Institute, Marmara Research Center, P.O. Box 21, 41470 Gebze, Kocaeli, Turkey Received 15 August 2005; received in revised form 24 November 2005; accepted 29 December 2005 Available online 20 January 2006 Abstract The temperature dependence of capacitance–voltage (C–V) and conductance–voltage (G/w–V) characteristics of metal–insulator– semiconductor (Al/Si 3 N 4 /p-Si) Schottky barrier diodes (SBDs) was investigated by considering series resistance effect in the temperature range of 80–300 K. It is found that in the presence of series resistance, the forward bias C–V plots exhibit a peak, and experimentally show that the peak positions with a maximum at 260 K shift toward lower voltages with increasing temperature. The C–V and (G/w–V) characteristics confirm that the interface state density (N ss ) and series resistance (R s ) of the diode are important parameters that strongly influence the electric parameters of MIS structures. The crossing of the G/w–V curves appears as an abnormality compared to the con- ventional behavior of ideal Schottky diode. It is thought that the presence of series resistance keeps this intersection hidden and unob- servable in homogeneous Schottky diodes, but it appears in the case of inhomogeneous Schottky diode. In addition, the high frequency (C m ) and conductance (G m /w) values measured under both reverse and forward bias were corrected for the effect of series resistance to obtain the real diode capacitance. Ó 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Conductance method; MIS structure; Temperature dependence; Series resistance; Nitride passivation 1. Introduction In fabrication of electronic devices such as metal–insula- tor–semiconductor (MIS) and metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS) structures, the surface stability of semiconductors plays a very important role. The electrical characteristics of these devices are influenced by various non-idealities such as the interface states, series resistor and interfacial interface layer [1–4]. The semiconductor crystal surfaces are usually covered with thin layer of native oxide and organic contaminants in the laboratory environment [5,6]. The formation of an insulator layer on Si by traditional ways of oxidation or deposition cannot completely passiv- ate the active dangling bonds at the semiconductor surface. A number of non-traditional approaches for surface pas- sivation such as ultra-thin sulfide and selenide layer have been a subject of interest [7,8]. In recent years, the nitrida- tion of silicon (Si 3 N 4 ) films is being examined as a potential material in replacing silicon-dioxide (SiO 2 ) in such devices [9,10]. Their main advantages are low density of surface states and high dielectric permittivity. The performance and reliability of these devices is dependent especially on the formation of insulator layer between metal and semi- conductor interface and series resistance of devices. Also, the change in temperature has important effects on the determination of diode parameters. In our previous work [11], we studied the temperature dependency of the main diode parameters; barrier height, ideality factor and interface state densities calculated from forward bias current–voltage–temperature (I–V–T) 0167-9317/$ - see front matter Ó 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.mee.2005.12.013 * Corresponding author. Tel.: +90 312 212 6030; fax: +90 312 212 2279/ 213 1236. E-mail address: mahir@gazi.edu.tr (M.M. Bu ¨lbu ¨ l). www.elsevier.com/locate/mee Microelectronic Engineering 83 (2006) 577–581