Schottky barrier

A Schottky barrier, named after Walter H. Schottky, is a potential energy barrier for electrons formed at a metal–semiconductor junction. Schottky barriers have rectifying characteristics, suitable for use as a diode. One of the primary characteristics of a Schottky barrier is the Schottky barrier height, denoted by Φ_B (see figure). The value of Φ_B depends on the combination of metal and semiconductor.

Not all metal–semiconductor junctions form a rectifying Schottky barrier; a metal–semiconductor junction that conducts current in both directions without rectification, perhaps due to its Schottky barrier being too low, is called an ohmic contact.

Physics of formation

The barrier between a metal and a semiconductor is naively predicted by the Schottky-Mott rule to be proportional to the difference of the metal-vacuum work function and the semiconductor-vacuum electron affinity. In practice, however, most metal-semiconductor interfaces do not follow this rule to the predicted degree. Instead, the chemical termination of the semiconductor crystal against a metal creates electron states within its band gap. The nature of these metal-induced gap states and their occupation by electrons tends to pin the center of the band gap to the Fermi level, an effect known as Fermi level pinning. Thus the heights of the Schottky barriers in metal-semiconductor contacts often show little dependence on the value of the semiconductor or metal work functions, in strong contrast to the Schottky-Mott rule. Different semiconductors exhibit this Fermi level pinning to the different degrees, but a technological consequence is that ohmic contacts are usually difficult to form in important semiconductors such as silicon and gallium arsenide. Non-ohmic contacts present a parasitic resistance to current flow that consumes energy and lowers device performance.