Si3N4 films were deposited on n-type silicon substrate by the radio frequency magnetron sputtering technique. The current–voltage (I–V) characteristics of Au/Si3N4/n-Si (metal–insulator–semiconductor) Schottky diodes were investigated in the temperature range of 160–400 K. Experimental results show an abnormal increase in the zero-bias barrier height (BH) (ΦBo) and a decrease in the ideality factor (n) with increasing temperature. This behavior is attributed to barrier inhomogeneities by assuming a Gaussian distribution (GD) of BHs. The conventional Richardson plot (ln(Io/T2) versus 1000/T) exhibits a linearity above about 300 K. The values of activation energy (Ea) and Richardson constant (A*) were found to be 0.350 eV and 1.242 × 10–3 A cm−2 K−2 from the slope and the intercept at the ordinate of the linear region of this plot, respectively. Also, we attempted to draw a ΦBo versus q/2kT plot to determine evidence of the GD of BHs, and the values of and σs = 0.137 eV for the mean BH and zero-bias standard deviation, respectively, were obtained from this plot; then, a modified ln(Io/T2) − q2σs2/2k2T2 versus q/kT plot gives and A* as 0.992 eV and 108.228 A cm−2 K−2, respectively. This value of A* is very close to the theoretical value of 112 A cm−2 K−2 for n-type Si.
In this work, we investigated the current–voltage (I–V) characteristics of an Au/Si3N4/n-Si (metal–insulator–semiconductor (MIS)) Schottky diode in a wide temperature range of 160–400 K. By using the thermionic emission (TE) theory, the forward bias I–V characteristics were analyzed to estimate the MIS Schottky diode parameters. Experimental results show that the main electrical parameters, such as the ideality factor (n) and the zero-bias barrier height (ΦB0), are considerably dependent on temperature. The semi-logarithmic ln I–V characteristics based on the TE mechanism showed a decrease in n and an increase in ΦB0 with increasing temperature. The values of n and ΦB0 changed from 9.50 and 0.34 eV (at 160 K) to 3.43 and 0.74 eV (at 400 K), respectively. Therefore, these results cannot be explained purely on the basis of TE theory. The temperature dependence of the energy distribution of interface states (Nss) was obtained from the forward bias I–V measurements by taking into account the bias dependence of the effective barrier height (Φe) and n. In addition, the values of series resistance (Rs) were determined using Cheung's method and Ohm's law.
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