The Effect of Interfacial Dipoles on the Metal-Double Interlayers-Semiconductor Structure and Their Application in Contact Resistivity Reduction

Sun Woo Kim, Seung Hwan Kim, Gwang Sik Kim, Changhwan Choi, Rino Choi, Hyun Yong Yu

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

21 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We demonstrate the contact resistance reduction for III-V semiconductor-based electrical and optical devices using the interfacial dipole effect of ultrathin double interlayers in a metal-interlayers-semiconductor (M-I-S) structure. An M-I-S structure blocks metal-induced gap states (MIGS) to a sufficient degree to alleviate Fermi level pinning caused by MIGS, resulting in contact resistance reduction. In addition, the ZnO/TiO2 interlayers of an M-I-S structure induce an interfacial dipole effect that produces Schottky barrier height (ΦB) reduction, which reduces the specific contact resistivity (ρc) of the metal/n-type III-V semiconductor contact. As a result, the Ti/ZnO(0.5 nm)/TiO2(0.5 nm)/n-GaAs metal-double interlayers-semiconductor (M-DI-S) structure achieved a ρc of 2.51 × 10-5 Ω·cm2, which exhibited an ∼42 000× reduction and an ∼40× reduction compared to the Ti/n-GaAs metal-semiconductor (M-S) contact and the Ti/TiO2(0.5 nm)/n-GaAs M-I-S structure, respectively. The interfacial dipole at the ZnO/TiO2 interface was determined to be approximately −0.104 eV, which induced a decrease in the effective work function of Ti and, therefore, reduced ΦB. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis of the M-DI-S structure also confirmed the existence of the interfacial dipole. On the basis of these results, the M-DI-S structure offers a promising nonalloyed Ohmic contact scheme for the development of III-V semiconductor-based applications.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)35614-35620
Number of pages7
JournalACS Applied Materials and Interfaces
Volume8
Issue number51
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2016 Dec 28

Keywords

  • Fermi level pinning
  • Schottky barrier
  • gallium arsenide
  • interfacial dipole
  • specific contact resistivity

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Materials Science(all)

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