Properties of Shottky contacts of aluminum on strained Si1-x-yGexCy layers

Schottky contacts of Al/Si1-x-yGexCy were fabricated using conventional Si technology, Effects of thermal processing of the alloys on the electrical properties of the Al/Si1-x-yGexCy Schottky diodes were investigated. Current-voltage (I-V), capacitance-voltage (C-V), and x-ray diffraction measurements were performed. These thick alloy films (100-150 nm) experienced strain relaxation upon annealing at 700 degrees C. Nearly ideal I-V and C-V behaviors were obtained for strain-compensated samples. I-V and C-V characteristics show evidence of dislocation-related traps for strain-relaxed samples. Carbon incorporation improves the I-V and C-V characteristics by lessening the extent of lattice relaxation due to thermal processing. (C) 1996 American Institute of Physics.