Annealing of intimate Ag, Al, and Au-GaAs Schottky barriers

Using valence-band and core-level photoemission spectroscopy (PES) and electrical device measurements, the effects of annealing Ag, Al, and Au on n-type (110)GaAs Schottky diodes fabricated in ultrahigh vacuum have been studied. PES was used to monitor the annealing-induced changes in the interface Fermi level position and the chemical nature of the metal-semiconductor interface for submonolayer and several monolayer coverages. Barrier height determinations were also performed using current-voltage (/-F) and capacitance-voltage (C-V) device measurements on annealed thick metal film metal-semiconductor junctions. The results of this study show that the annealing-induced microscopic changes in the electronic and chemical structure of the metal-semiconductor interface can be strongly correlated with the macroscopic changes in the electrical properties of thick film metal-semiconductor Schottkv diodes.