Effect of growth temperature on ballistic electron transport through the Au/Si(001) interface

• Published in: Journal of applied physics Vol. 115; no. 16
• Main Authors: Eckes, M. W., Friend, B. E., Stollenwerk, A. J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Melville American Institute of Physics 28.04.2014
• Subjects: Applied physics; CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY; ELECTRIC CURRENTS; ELECTRON EMISSION; ELECTRON SPECTROSCOPY; Electron transport; ELECTRONS; Emission analysis; EMISSION SPECTROSCOPY; ENERGY DEPENDENCE; Epitaxial growth; EPITAXY; GOLD; INTERFACES; SCHOTTKY BARRIER DIODES; Schottky diodes; SILICON; TEMPERATURE DEPENDENCE; THIN FILMS
• ISSN: 0021-8979; 1089-7550
• DOI: 10.1063/1.4873172

Ballistic electron emission spectroscopy was used to investigate electron transport through Au/Si(001) Schottky diodes grown at 35 °C and 22 °C. Aside from a decreased Schottky height, this small increase in temperature introduced an energy dependent scattering component, which was absent in the samples grown at 22 °C. These differences may be attributed to the increased amount of Au-Si intermixing at the interface. Despite the non-epitaxial nature of the growth technique, strong evidence was found in both sets of samples that indicated the presence of a forward-focused current subject to some degree of parallel momentum conservation at the interface. This evidence was present in all samples grown at 35 °C, but was only observed in those samples grown at 22 °C when the Au films were 10 nm or thicker. This sensitivity to growth temperature could account for discrepancies in previous studies on Au/Si(001).