Effects of annealing on resistivity and on Schottky barrier heights of sputter-deposited MoSi2 films

Abstract

MoSi2 films were deposited by rf sputtering from MoSi2 grains. The stoichiometry of the film was verified by the backscattering method. The effect of heat treatment on the resistivity of the film was studied by annealing the film up to 1000 °C in nitrogen atmosphere. After a 1000 °C anneal, resistivity of 90 μΩ cm can be achieved reproducibly. Measurements of hole and electron barriers of junctions between sputter-deposited MoSi2 films and either p- or n-Si are reported. For an as-deposited contact, the hole and electron barriers on p- and n-Si were 0.75 and 0.38 eV, respectively, for chemically etched surfaces. For sputter-etched surfaces, the hole barrier increased further to 0.83 eV and the electron barrier reduced to 0.32 eV. By annealing the diodes in nitrogen at 400 °C for 30 min, the hole barrier was lowered to 0.56 eV and the electron barrier was increased to 0.58 eV for both chemically etched and sputter-etched surfaces.

Enhancing the Photovoltage of Ni/n-Si Photoanode for Water Oxidation through a Rapid Thermal Process

“…11,15,16,25 After RTP in nitrogen gas, we can significantly reduce these interface states 31−33 and thus alleviate the Fermi level pinning and as a result obtain a higher Φ b compared with untreated Ni/n-Si. 16,25,32,33 The PEC stability of the photoanodes is an important issue for their applications. To investigate the stability of the RTPtreated Ni/n-Si as photoanode, we observed the change of photocurrent densities at an applied constant potential of 0.6 V vs Hg/HgO for 8 h. It can be found from Figure 5a that the photocurrent densities of the RTP-treated Ni/n-Si are quite stable during the stability test.…”

“…In addition, there are also large number of defects at the Si/SiO x interface and within SiO x . These defects cause high density of interface states at Ni/Si interface, which tend to strongly pin the Fermi level of silicon and result in a low Φ b . ,,, After RTP in nitrogen gas, we can significantly reduce these interface states − and thus alleviate the Fermi level pinning and as a result obtain a higher Φ b compared with untreated Ni/ n -Si. ,,, …”