Lecture 5

OUTLINE
• Poisson’s Equation

• Work function

• Metal-Semiconductor Contacts
 equilibrium energy-band diagram
 depletion-layer width
• Metal-semiconductor contacts (cont.)
 I-V characteristics
• Metal-semiconductor contacts (cont.)
 practical ohmic contacts
 small-signal capacitance
• Introduction to pn junction diodes
Read: Hu’s Chapter 4
 Poisson’s Equation
Gauss’s Law: area A

s : permittivity (F/cm)
 : charge density (C/cm3) E(x) E(x+Dx)

Dx
 Charge Density in a Semiconductor
• Assuming the dopants are completely ionized:

 = q (p – n + ND – NA)
 Metal-Semiconductor Contacts
There are 2 kinds of metal-semiconductor contacts:
• rectifying
“Schottky diode”

• non-rectifying
“ohmic contact”
 Ideal MS Contact: FM > FS, n-type

Band diagram instantly

after contact formation:

Schottky
Equilibrium Barrier :
band diagram:
F Bn  F M  
 Ideal MS Contact: FM < FS, n-type

Band diagram instantly

after contact formation:

Equilibrium
band diagram:
 Ideal MS Contact: FM < FS, p-type
metal p-type Si
Eo

Si

Ec
FM

EF
Ev
FBp qVbi = FBp– (EF – Ev)FB FBp =  + EG - FM

W
 Effect of Interface States on FBn
metal FM > FS n-type Si

• Ideal MS contact:
FBn = FM – 
Eo

Si • Real MS contacts:

FM
 A high density of
qVbi = FB – (Ec – EF)FB allowed energy
FBn states in the
Ec
EF
band gap at the
MS interface pins
EF to the range
0.4 eV to 0.9 eV
Ev below Ec
W
 Schottky Barrier Heights: Metal on Si

Metal Er Ti Ni W Mo Pt
FM (eV) 3.12 4.3 4.7 4.6 4.6 5.6
FBn (eV) 0.44 0.5 0.61 0.67 0.68 0.73
FBp (eV) 0.68 0.61 0.51 0.45 0.42 0.39

 FBn tends to increase with increasing metal work function

Schottky Barrier Heights: Silicide on Si

FM (eV) 3.78 4.18 4.6 4.65 4.7 5

FBn (eV) 0.3 0.6 0.64 0.65 0.65 0.84
FBp (eV) 0.8 0.52 0.48 0.47 0.47 0.28

Silicide-Si interfaces are more stable than metal-silicon

interfaces. After metal is deposited on Si, a thermal
annealing step is applied to form a silicide-Si contact.
The term metal-silicon contact includes silicide-Si
contacts.
 The Depletion Approximation
The semiconductor is depleted of mobile carriers to a depth W

 In the depleted region (0  x  W ):

 = q (ND – NA)

Beyond the depleted region (x > W ):

=0
 Electrostatics
E  qN D
• Poisson’s equation:  
x s s

• The solution is: E x    W  x 

qN D
s

V x    E( x)dx
 Depleted Layer Width, W

 qN D
V x   W  x 2
2K S 0

At x = 0, V = -Vbi

2 sVbi
 W
qN D

• W decreases with increasing ND

 Summary: Schottky Diode (n-type Si)
metal FM > FS n-type Si

Depletion width:
Eo
2 sVbi
FM
Si W
qN D
qVbi = FBn – (Ec – EF)FB
FBn
Ec Equilibrium (VA = 0)
EF -> EF continuous,
constant

 FBn = FM – 
Ev
W
 Summary: Schottky Diode (p-type Si)
metal FM < FS p-type Si
Eo

Depletion width:
Si
2 sVbi
W
qN A
Ec
FM
Equilibrium (VA = 0)
-> EF continuous,
EF constant
Ev
FBp qVbi = FBp– (EF – Ev)FB
FBp =  + EG - FM
W
Current Flow in a Schottky Diode
FORWARD BIAS • Current is determined by
majority-carrier flow across
the MS junction:
– Under forward bias,
majority-carrier diffusion
from the semiconductor
into the metal dominates
REVERSE BIAS – Under reverse bias,
majority-carrier diffusion
from the metal into the
semiconductor dominates
 Voltage Drop across the MS Diode
• Under equilibrium conditions
(VA = 0), the voltage drop
across the semiconductor
depletion region is the built-in
voltage Vbi.

• If VA  0, the voltage drop

across the semiconductor
depletion region is Vbi - VA.
 Depleted Layer Width, W, for VA  0
Last time, we found that
 qN D
V x   W  x 2
2K S 0

At x = 0, V = - (Vbi - VA)

2 s (Vbi  VA )
 W
qN D

• W increases with increasing –VA

• W decreases with increasing ND
- (Vbi - VA)
 W for p-type Semiconductor

V x   W  x 2
qN A
2 K S 0

At x = 0, V = Vbi + VA

2 s (VA  Vbi )
 W
qN A

• W increases with increasing VA

• W decreases with increasing NA
 Thermionic Emission Theory
• Electrons can cross the junction into the metal if

K.E.x  mv x  qVbi  VA 
1 2

2
vx  vmin 
2q
*
Vbi  VA 
mn

• Thus the current for electrons at a given velocity is:

I s   M , v x  qAv x n(vx )

• So, the total current over the barrier is:

 v min

I s  M  qA  v n(v )dv


x x x
 Schottky Diode I - V
• For a nondegenerate semiconductor, it can be shown
that  4kTm* 2   E F  Ec  / kT  mn / 2 kT v x
n v x   
* 2
n
 e e
 h3 
• We can then obtain
4qmn* k 2 2  F B / kT qVA / kT
I S  M  3
AT e e
h
*
m
 AJ S e qVA / kT , where J S  120 n T 2e F B / kT A/cm2
m0
• In the reverse direction, the electrons always see the
same barrier FB, so I M S   I S M VA  0

• Therefore I  I S (e qV A / kT
 1) where I S  AJ S
 Applications of Schottky Diodes
• IS of a Schottky diode is 103 to 108 times larger than
that of a pn junction diode, depending on FB .
 Schottky diodes are preferred rectifiers for low-
voltage, high-current applications.
 Summary
• In a Schottky contact, charge is stored
on either side of the MS junction
– The applied bias VA modulates this
charge and thus the voltage drop
across the semiconductor depletion
region
 Flow of majority carriers into the
metal varies exponentially with VA
J  J S (e qVA / kT  1)
*
m 2  qF B / kT
where J S  120 T e n
A/cm2
m0
 Practical Ohmic Contact
• In practice, most M-S contacts are rectifying

• To achieve a contact which conducts easily in

both directions, we dope the semiconductor
very heavily
 W is so narrow that carriers can tunnel directly
through the barrier
 Equilibrium Band Diagram Band Diagram for VA0

2 sF Bn qVbiFBn q(Vbi-VA)
W EFM Ec, EFS EFM Ec, EFS
qN D

Ev Ev

tunneling probability P  e H ( F Bn VA ) ND

where H  4  s m / h  5.4 10

*
n
9 *
m / mo cm
n
3/2
V 1

 H ( F Bn V A ) / N D
J S M  qPN D vthx  qN D kT / 2m e *
n
 Specific Contact Resistivity, c
• Unit: W-cm2
– c is the resistance of a 1 cm2 contact

HF B / N D
• For a practical ohmic contact, c  e
 want small FB, large ND for small contact resistance

c
Rcontact 
Acontact
 Approaches to Lowering fB
• Image-force barrier lowering
Df
qfBo q N a N = active dopant concentration in surface layer
Df 
EF EC  s 4 a = width of heavily doped surface layer
metal n+ Si
 Very high active dopant concentration desired
• fM engineering
– Impurity segregation via silicidation
A. Kinoshita et al. (Toshiba), 2004 Symp. VLSI Technology Digest, p. 168

– Dual ( low-fM / high-fM ) silicide technology

• Band-gap reduction
– strain A. Yagishita et al. (UC-Berkeley), 2003 SSDM Extended Abstracts, p. 708
– germanium incorporation M. C. Ozturk et al. (NCSU),
2002 IEDM Technical Digest, p. 375
Voltage Drop across an Ohmic Contact
• Ideally, Rcontact is very small, so little voltage is
dropped across the ohmic contact, i.e. VA 0V
 equilibrium conditions prevail
Review: MS-Contact Charge Distribution
• In a Schottky contact, charge is stored on either side
of the MS junction
– The applied bias VA modulates this charge
Schottky Diode: Small-Signal Capacitance
• If an a.c. voltage va is applied in series with the d.c.
bias VA, the charge stored in the Schottky contact will
be modulated at the frequency of the a.c. voltage
dva
 displacement current will flow: i  C
dt

s
CA
W
 Using C-V Data to Determine FB
s s qN D s
CA A A
W 2 s 2Vbi  VA 
Vbi  VA 
qN D

1 2(Vbi  VA )

C 2
qN D s A2

Once Vbi and ND are known, FBn can be determined:

Nc
qVbi  qF Bn  ( Ec  EF ) FB  qF Bn  kT ln
ND
 Summary

Ec Ec
EF
Ev EF Ev
Ec Ec
EF
EF Ev
Ev

Since it is difficult to achieve small FB, practical ohmic

contacts are achieved with heavy doping:
Ec
EF Ec
EF Ev
Ev
Charge storage in an MS junction  small-signal capacitance:
s
CA
W
 pn Junctions
Donors

N-type
P-type

I – V +
I

N P
V

Reverse bias Forward bias diode

symbol
Terminology

Doping Profile:
Idealized Junctions