ta‐C/Si heterojunction diodes with apparently giant ideality factors

A common feature of many wide band gap heterojunction diodes is an unexplained large ideality factor n > 2. In this context we investigate the diode characteristics of heterojunction diodes consisting of a crystalline semiconductor material such as Si covered with a thin semiconducting film of amorphous or disordered material. As thin amorphous film we use tetrahedral amorphous carbon (ta-C). These heterojunctions exhibit a pronounced rectifying behavior, low saturation current and low parasitic currents. Moreover, we observe an apparently giant ideality factor reaching values of n > 75. As a consequence, the turn on voltage is around 3 – 10 V and the I-V curves can be measured for bias up to 40 V without reaching saturation or electrical breakdown. We present a quantitative model for the unusual diode characteristics of these Metal – Amorphous Semiconductor – Semiconductor diodes (MASS-diodes). We demonstrate that the I-V characteristics of the heterojunctions are well described by a serial arrangement of an ideal Schottky-diode, a Frenkel-Poole type resistance and an Ohmic contact resistance, emulating a p-n- or Schottky diode characteristic with giant ideality factor and referred to as the FPID-model. We propose that heterojunctions exhibiting apparently large ideality factors n ≫ 2 may possess an interfacial disordered or amorphous layer with Frenkel-Poole conduction properties. (© 2010 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)