Characteristics of SiC pillar-shaped nanostructure Schottky diode

The effect of geometrical shape on the electrical transport was analyzed in SiC nanostructure Schottky diode. Two different contacts, the pillar-shaped nanostructure contact and nanoscale contact, were fabricated separately from top down method. Compared with nanoscale contact, the nanostructure contact showed the low current level, but similar Schottky barrier property. This is attributed by the fact that pillar-shaped nanostructure has smaller base areas which prevent the electrons from efficient transport into the nanostructure. This led to the decrease in electron mobility, resulting in the higher resistance in the I-V curves. From Fowler-Nordheim plot, it was almost linear for higher voltage region, but the linear behavior disappeared in the lower one. This implied that the electron tunneling was the main transport mechanism at higher electric field in this structure. (C) 2009 American Institute of Physics. [DOI:10.1063/1.3176898]