Chapter 6 Solid State Physics

79

6.2. METAL - SEMICONDUCTOR CONTACT POTENTIAL

1. THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS
All the semiconductor devices (diodes, transistors) have metallic contacts that
can have either an ohmic character or a rectifier character. An energetic barrier
appears almost in all cases in the metal semiconductor (M - S) contact region.
Let's consider the case when the metal work function
M
is larger than the
work function of the n-type semiconductor
S
(see fig. 1):

Fig. 1. The metal (M) and the semiconductor (S) are not in contact

_
S
is the electron affinity and represents the energy needed for an electron to move
from the bottom of the conduction band to the vacuum level. Usually _
S
= 4 eV (for
Ge _
S
= 4.13eV). Bringing the metal and the semiconductor in contact leads to a
electron migration from the conduction band of the semiconductor towards the metal
until the Fermi levels align, as in fig. 2:

Fig. 2. Metal semiconductor contact

M S
E
FM

M
E
FS

S
_
S
Vacuum level
M S
E
FM

M
E
FS

S
_
S
Vacuum level
M S
E
FM
E
FS
Vacuum level

M
-_
S

M
-
S
M S
E
FM
E
FS
Vacuum level

M
-_
S

M
-
S
Chapter 6 Solid State Physics
80

As a consequence of the contact the metal receives from n-type semiconductor
a surplus of electrons. Therefore at equilibrium between the metal and the
semiconductor a potential difference it will be established, named contact potential or
diffusion potential, U
D
.
( )
D M S
U / q = (1)
q being the electron charge.
In metals the spatial charges built up a very thin layer (10
-8
10
-7
cm) while in
semiconductors this layer is about 10
-6
10
-4
cm due to the lower carrier
concentration. This layer poorer in free carriers is called depletion layer. In fig. 2 it can
be observed that for passing from the metal to semiconductor electrons have to
overcome the potential barrier
M
- _
S
while for passing from the semiconductor to the
metal they have to overcome the
M
-
S
barrier. Due to the barrier forming the metal
semiconductor contact with
M
>
S
has a rectifying character. For direct bias (+ on M
and on S) the barrier value drops while for reverse bias (- on M and + on S) the
barrier rises. From fig. 2 it can be observed that if
M
-
S
is higher, the upper limit of
the valence band (V
B
) approaches very much the Fermi level favouring the thermal
generation of holes form the valence band. This way, in the contact region an inversion
layer (p-type) will form thus a p
+
- n junction such that the metal will inject holes into
the semiconductor.
For p-type semiconductors one can obtain a rectifying character if
M
<
S
and
the diffusion potential will be given by:
( )
D S M
U / q = (2)
Current voltage characteristic of the metal semiconductor contact
In this approach the thermionic emission theory will be involved. This theory
is based on the following assumptions:
-
M S
- kT ;
- the thickness of the depletion layer is smaller than the free path of the
charge carriers (l
d
<<);
To determine the current through the M-S structure one should apply the rectifying
diode theory. This theory is valid for high mobility semiconductors like Ge, Si, GaAs,
InSb etc.
In the case of the direct bias the current flowing through the M-S structure is given by:
S
qU
I I exp 1
kT
( | |
=
| (
\
(3)
Chapter 6 Solid State Physics
81

where
0 D
S
qn v qU
I exp
4 kT
| |
=
|
\
(4)
I
S
is the saturation current, n
0
is the electrons concentration in the semiconductor and
v is the average thermal velocity of the electrons in the semiconductor.
The contact potential can be determined from the temperature dependence of the
saturation current or the differential resistance of the M-S structure.
For reversed bias I ~ I
S
and from (4) it results that:
D
S
qU
ln I const.
kT
= (5)
Experimentally it will be determined I
S
as a function of the temperature T. Building up
the dependence lnI
S
= f (1/T) a straight line it will be obtained and from its slope U
D

can be determined according to the following relation:
S
D
(ln I ) k
U
q ( 1/ T )
A
A
= (6)

2. EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
The measurements will be performed on Ge diodes with the rectifying contact
formed between a tungsten wire and a small plate of n-type Ge. The experimental
setup is presented in fig. 3.
Fig. 3. Experimental setup






Heating plate
Ge
W
A
R
S
P
T
+
-
Heating plate
Ge
W
A
R
S
P
T
+
-
Chapter 6 Solid State Physics
82

3. DIRECTIONS
(a) check if all the connections are correctly realized;
(b) adjust the potentiometer P until the microammeter indicates a constant current
value, I
S
;
(c) turn on the heater and slowly heat up the MS structure. Read the temperature
values in steps of 5
o
C up to 50
o
C and for every value of the temperature measure
the current intensity;
(d) as soon as the temperature reaches 50
o
C stop the heating;
(e) graphically represent ln I
S
= f(1/T), determine the slope of the straight line and
using the relation (6) determine the contact potential U
D
.

4. EXPERIMENTAL DATA TABLE

t 1/T I
S
lnI
S
U
D

No.
o
C 10
-3
K
-1
A - V