Surface Effects on Metal-Silicon Contacts

Surface effects on metal‐silicon contacts have been studied in detail using gate‐controlled Schottky‐barrier diode structures. The ``excess'' forward and reverse currents at small and moderate bases, respectively, and low breakdown voltages usually associated with metal‐silicon contacts are clearly shown to be due to high fields near the corner region when the surface is accumulated. These currents can be eliminated and breakdown voltage increased by depleting or inverting the surface. By studying the diode characteristics when the surface is inverted, it is shown that the generation current in the depletion region often constitutes a significant part of the total reverse current and cannot in general be neglected.

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