Temperature dependence of current-voltage of
Al/p-Si(100) and Ti/p-Si(100) Schottky barrier diodes
Arely Vazquez
Electronics
Instituto Nacional de Astrofísica, Óptica y Electrónica (INAOE)
Puebla, México
arely.vazquez@inaoep.mx
Abstract— The current-voltage (I-V) characteristics on Al/p-
Si (100) and Ti/p-Si (100) Schottky barrier diodes (SD) in the
temperature range of 25-85°C were carried out. The Schottky
barrier height (SBH) and ideality factor n calculated for both
metal-semiconductor (MS) structures by using thermionic
emission theory showed a strong dependence on temperature.
The metals employed (titanium and aluminum) during the
fabrication process were characterized to obtain electrical and
physical parameters.
Keywords—Schottky barrier height, temperature, fabrication,
current-voltage, Schottky barrier diode
I. INTRODUCTION
In 1874, Braun discovered the metal-semiconductor
contact, thus forming the basis of one of the oldest
semiconductor devices. The first acceptable theory was
developed by Walter Schottky in the 1930s. In his honor metal-
semiconductor devices are often described as Schottky barrier
devices and called Schottky diodes (SD), indicating its
rectifying characteristics. A metal-semiconductor (MS) contact
is known as a Schottky barrier (SB). Although our knowledge
of SD is more than a century old, with numerous experimental
and theorical studies having been performed since then, our
understanding of MS junction is still incomplete. This is
because the performance of these devices depends mainly on
the fabrication process. One of the most interesting properties
of the MS interface is the Schottky barrier height (SBH) [2].
The applications of Schottky diodes are extensive, therefore,
analysis of the I-V characteristics of these devices at room
temperature is not sufficient to have an understanding of the
conduction processes or the nature of Schottky barrier
formation at the MS interface.
II. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE
Two sets of Schottky diodes were fabricated, where one set
is Al/p-Si (100) and the other Ti/p-Si (100). The fabrication of
the Schottky diodes has the following steps. The substrates
employed for fabrication and characterization were p-Si (100)
wafers with resistivity of 5-10 Ω-cm and corning glass 2947.
First, for wafer and coorning glass cleaning 10 minutes in
trichloroethylene (TCE) and 10 minutes in aceton were
XXX-X-XXXX-XXXX-X/XX/$XX.00 ©20XX IEEE
Joel Molina
Electronics
Instituto Nacional de Astrofísica, Óptica y Electrónica (INAOE)
Puebla, México
jmolina@inaoep.mx
submerged using an ultrasonic system. Second, the native
oxide was etched using a BHF solution. Then, proceed to the
RCA cleaning; for the RCA1, H2O: H2O2: NH4OH were
mixed with a proportion of 6:1:1 for 17 minutes at a
temperature of 75°C, and for the RCA2, H2O: H2O2: HCl
were mixed with a proportion of 6:1:1. Next, the native oxide
was etched a second time with the BHF solution. After that,
500nm of aluminum with a deposition rate of 10Å/s were
deposited to form the MS contact of the Al/p-Si (100) set. For
the Ti/p-Si (100) set, the same steps were followed, depositing
titanium with a thickness of 500 nm at a deposition rate of
20Å/s.
After that a photolithography step was executed. Finally,
the native oxide of the bottom side was etched for later making
the deposition of 400nm of aluminum. The deposited metals
were realized by e-beam evaporation.
The deposited metals were realized by e-beam evaporation.
Here, the role of the chemical oxidation was the superficial
passivation of the silicon. The active area of the diodes were
7.6E-7 cm2. The electrical characterization was performed
using the Keithley 4200-SCS Parameter Analyzer, starting at
room temperature (25°C) and making increments of 20°C to
85°C. The SD were polarized from 2V to -2V with a step of
0.02V.
III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The current transport in a Schottky barrier diode is due to
majority carriers and it may be described by thermionic
emission theory [1]. The I-V relationship of a SD without
considering the shunt and series resistance is given by (1):
( )
¿ 2 −q ϕb qV
I =S A T exp exp −1 =¿
kT nkT
( )
−q ϕ b qV
I s 1 exp exp −1 =¿
kT nkT
 ( )
¿
qV Where S is the effective area of the diode, A has a different
I s exp −1 value depending on the type of semiconductor, e.g., for n-Si is
nkT
(1) 112 (±6) A/cm2∙K2 and for p-Si is 32 (±2) A/cm2∙K2. n takes
into account the unknow effects that make the device non-ideal
[4]. (1) is commonly expressed as in (2).

I =I s exp
qV
nkT (
1−exp
−qV
kT ) (2) 10

10
-4

-5
-4
10

-5
10
0 min @25°C
2 min @25°C
4 min @25°C

The inverse saturation current has the form of (3). 10

-6 -6
10
8 min @25°C
16 min @25°C
-7 -7 0 min @45°C
10 10

C U R R E N T (A )
0 min @45°C

¿ 2 −q ϕ b 10
-8 -8
10
4 min @45°C

I s=S A T exp
8 min @45°C
16 min @45°C
(3)
-9 -9
10 10

kT -10
10
-10
10
0 min @65°C
2 min @65°C
4 min @65°C
8 min @65°C
The SBH was calculated using the I-V method, it consists of
-11 -11
10 10
16 min @65°C
-12 -12
0 min @85°C

taking the values from I s that is determined using the semilog

10 10
2 min @85°C
-13
10
-13
10 4 min @85°C
0 1 2 8 min @85°C
I-V curve of the diode and applying an extrapolation. The value VOLTAGE (V) 16 min @85°C

of the inverse saturation current is given in V =0. The

relation between SBH and I s is given by (4).

kT S A ¿ T 2 Fig. 2. Reverse current-voltage curves of Al/p-Si (100) diodes at various

Φ b= ln
q Is
The ideality factor is a parameter that is generally used to
measure the deviation of practical diodes from the ideal model
of thermionic emission. It can be extracted from the slope of
the linear region of the lnI-V plot, as described in (5) [5].
(4)
temperatures.
The calculated values of the Schottky barrier height are shown
in the Table 1. Is observed that the superficial passivation
results in an increase in SBH. After oxidation most interface
states are saturated with oxygen atoms and the interface states
density decrease in comparison of a non-passivated silicon. The

( )
q ∂V SBH are found to be a strong function of temperature, increase
n= (5)
with increasing temperature as can be seen in Table 1, but is
kT ∂ lnI true only for the passivated diodes, the non-passivated diode
In Fig. 1 shows the I-V curves of the five samples of the Al/p- remains constant with temperature, in agreement with the
thermionic emission theory [1]. The reverse-current of the non-
Si (100) structure measured at different temperatures are
passivated diode increase with increasing temperature, whereas
shown in the Fig. 1.
the inverse saturation current of the passivated diodes
10
-2 -2
10 0 min @25°C
decreasing with increasing temperature.
10
-3 -3
10 2 min @25°C
4 min @25°C
TABLE I. SBH CALCULATED VALUES FROM I-V METHOD OF AL/P-SI
-4 -4
10 10 8 min @25°C
-5 -5 16 min @25°C
(100) SD
10 10
0 min @45°C
C U R R EN T (A)

10
-6 -6
10 0 min @45°C
-7 -7 4 min @45°C
10 10

10
-8 -8
10
8 min @45°C
16 min @45°C
Schottky barrier Height (eV)
0 min @65°C
10
-9 -9
10 2 min @65°C Imme
-10
10
-10
10 4 min @65°C
8 min @65°C
rsion time 25°C 45°C 65°C 85°C
(min)
-11 -11
10 10 16 min @65°C
-12 -12 0 min @85°C
0.48 0.48 0.48 0.47
10 10
2 min @85°C
-13
10
-13
10 4 min @85°C 0
-2 -1 0 1 2 8 min @85°C 0 7 1 8
VOLTAGE (V) 16 min @85°C
0.45 0.50 0.56 0.62
2
3 7 9 1
0.70 0.64 0.74 0.81
4
6 3 7 2
0.62 0.66 0.77 0.83
Fig. 1. Current-voltage curves of Al/p-Si (100) diodes at various temperatures. 8
1 3 3 9
Here, the strong dependence with temperature of the diodes 0.59 0.62 0.69 0.73
16
1 0 4 5
is observed in the reverse-bias region plotted in Fig. 2.

The increase in the barrier height at higher temperature are

caused possibly by inhomogeneities of thickness and non-
uniformity of the interfacial charges, even due to the interface
states; nevertheless, the general characteristics remain
consistent with the thermionic process [6]. The analysis revels
an unusual behavior in ideality factor and SBH0 min
0.85
as shown in 18
the chemical oxidation performed with H2O2. Since the current
Fig. 3. 0.80
2 min
4 min
16
transport across the barrier is a temperature-activated process,
8 min
0.75
14
16 min at lower temperature carriers do not have sufficient kinetic
0.70 12
energy to surmount the higher barriers, but some carriers at
SBH (eV )

0.65 10
lower temperature are able to surmount the lower barriers and

n
0.60 8
therefore the current transport will be dominated by current
10
-5
0 min @25°C
2 min @25°C
0.55
6
flowing through the lower SBH [8].
10
-6
4 min @25°C
8 min @25°C
0.50
4 16 min @25°C
0 min @45°C
0.45

C U R R E N T (A )
2 min @45°C
2 10
-7
4 min @45°C
20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
8 min @45°C
Temperature (°C) 16 min @45°C
10
-8 0 min @65°C
2 min @65°C
4 min @65°C
-9
8 min @65°C
10 16 min @65°C
0 min @85°C
2 min @85°C
10
-10 4 min @85°C
0 1 2 8 min @85°C
VOLTAGE (V) 16 min @85°C

Fig. 3. Calculated values of SBH (■) and ideality factor (★) of Al/p-Si (100)
diodes at various temperatures.

The ideality factor is a non-physical parameter, its

magnitude depends strongly on the fabrication process, from Fig. 5. Reverse current-voltage curves of Ti/p-Si (100) diodes at various
Fig. 3 can be see high values of SBH give low values of temperatures.
ideality factor, but there is no direct relationship between n and
the increase or decrease in temperature, so high magnitude The values of the SBH of the Ti/Si MS system are displayed in
ideality factor has no direct explanation within the thermionic Table 2.
emission theory [6].
TABLE II. SBH CALCULATED VALUES FROM I-V METHOD OF TI/P-SI
From a chemical reactivity point of view, refractory metals (100) SD
as titanium are more reactive than the near-noble metals, Schottky barrier Height (eV)
however, no silicide formation occurs at Ti-Si interface until to Imme
perform a thermal treatment to form TiSi at 450-600°C and rsion time 25°C 45°C 65°C 85°C
TiSi2 requires at least 750°C [7]. In this work no thermal (min)
treatment was performed, so that the Ti-Si is treated as metal- 0 0.536 0.536 0.552 0.560
semiconductor contact and not as silicide-metal contact. The 0.543 0.532 0.540 0.554
2
experimental current-voltage characteristics of the Ti/p-Si
10
-2
0 min @25°C

(100) are shown in Fig. 4.

10
-3
2 min @25°C
4 min @25°C 4 0.541 0.546 0.581 0.609
8 min @25°C
10
-4 16 min @25°C
0 min @45°C 8 0.602 0.573 0.603 0.610
C U R R E N T (A )

10
-5 2 min @45°C
4 min @45°C
10
-6 8 min @45°C
16 0.577 0.575 0.605 0.616
16 min @45°C
-7
0 min @65°C
10 2 min @65°C
4 min @65°C
-8
10 8 min @65°C

10
-9
16 min @65°C
0 min @85°C Compared to aluminum diodes, the Ti/p-Si (100) SD do not
2 min @85°C
10
-10

-2 -1 0 1 2
4 min @85°C
8 min @85°C
vary strongly in SBH values, presenting a higher thermal
VOLTAGE (V) 16 min @85°C
stability. The ideality factor of this contact showed the same
performance as the Al/Si contact, but this contact
0.62
0 min presents a
8

high magnitude of ideality factor as shown the Fig. 6.

0.61 2 min
4 min
0.60 8 min
16 min
0.59 6
SBH (eV)

0.58
n

0.57

Fig. 4. Current-voltage curves of Ti/p-Si (100) diodes at various temperatures.

0.56 4

0.55

As in the aluminum diodes, the strong dependence in 0.54

temperature is observed when we applied a positive voltage of 0.53

20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
2

polarization to the diode. Fig. 5 displayed the reverse current- Temperature (°C)

voltage characteristics of the titanium diodes. It can be

observed that the reverse saturation current of all the Titanium
diodes increase with increasing in temperature, despite this
behavior the experimental SBH increase with increase in
temperature. The significant increase of the values of SBH at
high temperatures are possibly caused by the inhomogeneity at
the MS interface. This inhomogeneity may also be caused by
 Fig. 6. Calculated values of SBH (■) and ideality factor (★) of Ti/p-Si (100) [9]. Thickness measurement was performed with the help of
diodes at various temperatures. Bruker Dektak XT contact profilometer. For the case of
aluminum with thickness of 500 nm the calculated
The temperature dependence of the Schottky barrier height
experimental electrical resistivity was 3.20μΩ∙cm, very close to
and of the ideality factors may be also related to the change in
the bulk value of 2.8μΩ∙cm. The calculated electrical resistivity
the dominant transport mechanism as the temperature changes.
for 500 nm thick titanium was 75.57 μΩ∙cm, approximately
n remains constant for homogenous barriers an increase for double the reported bulk value of 40μΩ∙cm [10].
inhomogeneous barriers [6].
For the calculation of the electrical resistivity, cross-bridge
patterns were defined on a metal/glass structure with a of
photolithographic step. A 4-point array was used to supply
current and measure voltage using the Keithley 2400 Series
SourceMeter, thus obtaining the sheet resistance of the metal
IV. CONCLUSIONS Science, Engineering and Technology, International Journal of
Electronics and Communication Engineering Volume 5, No:9,
In conclusion, the forward and reverse I-V characteristics of Qaemshahr Branch, 2011, pp. 1285-1286.
Al/p-Si (100) and Ti/p-Si (100) diodes were measured in the [6] B P Modi and J M Dhimmar, “The temperature dependent ideality factor
range of 25-85°C. The reverse saturation current of the effect on I-V characteristics of Schottky diode”, 2012 1st International
passivated Al/p-Si (100) diodes decreased with increasing Conference on Emerging Technology Trends in Electronics,
Communication and Networking, Veer Narmad South Gujarat
temperature was observed, while for the Ti/p-Si (100) diodes University, 2012.
the reverse saturation current increased with increasing [7] Stephen A. Campbell, Fabrication Engineering at the Micro-and
temperature. The forward current increased a little bit for the Nanoscale, 3rd ed., Oxford University, NY, 2008, pp. 155.
Ti/p-Si (100) diodes and for the Al/p-Si (100) diodes were
constant with temperature. The Schottky barrier height and [8] V. Janardhanam, I. Jyothi, Kwang-Soon Ahn, Chel-Jong Choi,
“Temperature-dependent current–voltage characteristics of Se Schottky
ideality factor showed a strong dependence on temperature, contact to n-type Ge”, Appl. Phys. Lett. 116, 152104, 2020, pp. 3.
mostly for the Al-Si contact where the SBH and the ideality [9] Miguel Castro Licona, “Caracterización de algunas etapas del proceso
factor were increased with increasing temperature. The Ti-Si ECMOS-I/INAOE usando un circuito integrado de pruebas”, San Andres
contact displayed higher stability in the SBH values with Cholula, Tonantzintla, 2002, pp. 27-31.
changes in temperature. The diodes passivated showed the best [10] Miguel Castro Licona, “Caracterización de algunas etapas del proceso
ECMOS-I/INAOE usando un circuito integrado de pruebas”, San Andres
performance for a time of 8 and 16 minutes. The Al/p-Si (100) Cholula, Tonantzintla, 2002, pp. 27-31.
diodes obtained higher barrier heights and lower ideality
factors.
Evaluating the experimental temperature dependence of I-
V characteristics of the Schottky diodes revealed an abnormal
increase in Schottky barrier height and ideality factor with
increasing temperature probably caused by barrier
inhomogeneity, non-uniformity of the interfacial charges, and
the presence of the insulting layer at the metal-semiconductor
interface.

Electrical and physical parameters, such as electrical resistivity

and film thickness were measured. Despite the anomalies in
SBH and ideality factor, the I-V characteristics have remained
consistent with thermionic emission theory.

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