Effect of ballistic electron transport in metal-n-GaAs-n+-GaAs Schottky-barrier structures

The interaction of an electron with the potential formed at the Schottky-barrier metal-semiconductor contact was investigated under the assumption that the motion is ballistic. Three cases of interaction of the electron with the barrier potential were considered; i.e., strong and weak interactions and above-barrier transport. It is demonstrated that the interaction of the electron with the above-barrier region substantially affects the scattering process for all three cases, which manifests itself in the behavior of steady-state current-voltage characteristics. Based on the model suggested, it is predicted that reverse currents increase as the width of the diode’s thin (∼0.35 µm) base increases. This prediction is verified and confirmed experimentally. It is found that an increase in reverse current is related to the increasing influence of a strong electric field on the moving carriers as the width of the thin base increases.