Dielectric spectroscopy of silicon barrier devices

doi:10.1016/0038-1101(88)90427-3

Solid-State Electronics

Volume 31, Issue 8, August 1988, Pages 1277-1288

https://doi.org/10.1016/0038-1101(88)90427-3 Get rights and content

Abstract

Dielectric studies, equivalent in many respects to the familiar admittance spectroscopy, are reported on three silicon barrier devices: a Schottky diode on 10 Ω cm n type (A), a surface barrier diode on 10³ Ω cm n-type (B) and an n⁺-p junction on 3 × 10³ Ω cm material (C). The response in the frequency range 0.01–10⁴ Hz and in the temperature range 10–325 K shows three principal features in A and B: the d.c. conductance, a strongly dispersive behaviour at low frequencies and high temperatures, a secondary loss peak associated with the d.c. conduction, and a high-frequency loss peak which is distinctly broader than Debye. The dispersive process which is known as Low-Frequency Dispersion (LFD) and which may go over into negative capacitance under forward bias, is seen only in interfacial devices. The n⁺-p junction shows only the d.c. process and the high-frequency loss peak which is almost Debye-like. Several of these features have been seen previously in other devices, especially LFD in GaAs, and it is significant that they are now seen in silicon barrier devices implying that they are not simply a consequence of the compound nature of the material. They are related to the presence of electrochemical interaction in the oxide layer under the metal contact.

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It is clear from the literature that negative capacitance behavior has different physical mechanisms in different devices. The negative capacitance phenomena can be clarified by interpreting of G/ω-V-T and C–V-T data [21–23]. We previously studied the effect of the interfacial layer on the electrical properties at room temperature and the effect of the interfacial layer thickness on the conduction mechanism [24–26].
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Thus, the most probable mechanism that may explain Debye-type dispersion is the existence of a Schottky barrier near the boundary between semiconductor and metal. Similar spectral features of the dielectric relaxation were observed earlier for GaAs Schottky diodes and for p-n junctions in compensated materials with deep trapping levels resulting in a relatively slow emission of electrons [30,31]. Stronger changes of the dielectric spectrum are found in the low-frequency region at higher temperature (Fig. 5(a)).
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^☆: Work carried out in the Chelsea Dielectrics Group at the former Chelsea College of the University of London.

^‡: Present address: Home Office Forensic Laboratory, Cambridge, U.K.

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Dielectric spectroscopy of silicon barrier devices☆

Abstract

Solid-St. Electron.

Solid-St. Electron.

Solid-St. Electron.

J. appl. Phys.

J. appl. Phys.

Semiconductor Statistics

Dielectric Relaxation in Solids

J. Phys C: Solid St. Phys.

Semiconductor Sci. Tech.

Semiconductor Sci. Tech.