Modelling the inhomogeneous SiC Schottky interface

For the first time, the I-V-T dataset of a Schottky diode has been accurately modelled, parameterised, and fully fit, incorporating the effects of interface inhomogeneity, patch pinch-off and resistance, and ideality factors that are both heavily temperature and voltage dependent. A Ni/SiC Schottky diode is characterised at 2K intervals from 20 to 320K, which, at room temperature, displays low ideality factors (n<1.01) that suggest that these diodes may be homogeneous. However, at cryogenic temperatures, excessively high (n>8), voltage dependent ideality factors and evidence of the so-called "thermionic field emission effect" within a T0-plot, suggest significant inhomogeneity. Two models are used, each derived from Tung's original interactive parallel conduction treatment of barrier height inhomogeneity that can reproduce these commonly seen effects in single temperature I-V traces. The first model incorporates patch pinch-off effects and produces accurate and reliable fits above around 150K, and at current densities lower than 10(-5) A cm(-2). Outside this region, we show that resistive effects within a given patch are responsible for the excessive ideality factors, and a second simplified model incorporating these resistive effects as well as pinch-off accurately reproduces the entire temperature range. Analysis of these fitting parameters reduces confidence in those fits above 230 K, and questions are raised about the physical interpretation of the fitting parameters. Despite this, both methods used are shown to be useful tools for accurately reproducing I-V-T data over a large temperature range. (C) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.