Platinum and Rhodium Silicide–Germanide Optoelectronics

Abstract

Since the introduction of SiO 2 /Si devices in the 1960s, the only basic change in the design of a MOSFET has been in the gate length. The channel thickness has fundamentally remained unchanged, as the inversion layer in a silicon MOSFET is still about 10 nm thick. Bipolar transistor base widths have been of sub-micron dimensions all this time. It is time for a new property to be exploited in concert with the high mobility strained-silicon channels and silicon-germanium alloys. This property is the inherently low parasitic series resistance of Schottky barrier contacts. Schottky contacts, beam leads, and microbridges, while originally developed in silicon, have been successfully integrated into compound semiconductors for optoelectronics. Reintroduction of these technologies in optoelectronics based on silicon-germanium is proposed. Several new applications using platinum and rhodium compounds of silicon and germanium are presented.

First principles study of structural, electronic and elastic properties of cubic and orthorhombic RhSi

“…Moreover, SBD can be easily integrated with Schottky-bipolar circuits providing superior radiation resistance. However, Schottky-barrier photodiode based on PtSi formed on p-type silicon have certain drawbacks mainly related to increased dark current at increased operating wavelength and suppressed quantum yield by non-radiative photon absorption [15]. It has been demonstrated that these drawbacks can be overcome by replacing PtSi with RhSi in the photo-detector [15].…”

“…However, Schottky-barrier photodiode based on PtSi formed on p-type silicon have certain drawbacks mainly related to increased dark current at increased operating wavelength and suppressed quantum yield by non-radiative photon absorption [15]. It has been demonstrated that these drawbacks can be overcome by replacing PtSi with RhSi in the photo-detector [15]. In the past, RhSi based photodiodes were studied extensively by Lepster et al, [15] and were employed in low-power bipolar transistor circuits containing RhSi/n-Si and RhSi/p-Si junctions of high and low barrier heights [16].…”

“…It has been demonstrated that these drawbacks can be overcome by replacing PtSi with RhSi in the photo-detector [15]. In the past, RhSi based photodiodes were studied extensively by Lepster et al, [15] and were employed in low-power bipolar transistor circuits containing RhSi/n-Si and RhSi/p-Si junctions of high and low barrier heights [16]. Pure Rhodium and its silicide (RhSi) are further promising for application in electronic and highperformance nanotechnology devices due to its extremely high corrosion resistance, high quality metal-semiconductor interface structure, low cost process and low Schottky barrier to silicon [15,17e22].…”

“…Pure Rhodium and its silicide (RhSi) are further promising for application in electronic and highperformance nanotechnology devices due to its extremely high corrosion resistance, high quality metal-semiconductor interface structure, low cost process and low Schottky barrier to silicon [15,17e22]. Its applications include low resistance Schottky contacts in metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) transistors, bolometric infrared detectors and low sheet resistance metallization [15]. In addition RhSiGe alloys can be used as low resistance Schottky-barrier contact metal in germanium and SiGe based high performance devices [15].…”

“…Its applications include low resistance Schottky contacts in metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) transistors, bolometric infrared detectors and low sheet resistance metallization [15]. In addition RhSiGe alloys can be used as low resistance Schottky-barrier contact metal in germanium and SiGe based high performance devices [15]. Although RhSi has been investigated experimentally due to its technological importance, very few preliminary theoretical studies of it have been reported [23].…”