METALSEMICONDUCTOR
CONTACTS:
Ohmic-Metal
Semiconductor
Contacts.
Metal Semiconductor contacts:
- The Structure
The structure is very simple; but also very interesting, important
and useful.
Effect of Biasing to a Metal Semiconductor Contact (Junction)
Potential step crossing the junction changes.
Depletion region width and electric field changes.
Current flows across the junction.
Potential Step Change:
Assuming all the bias appears across the
junction, the potential barrier changes from to .
NOTE:
REMEMBER…!
Forward bias decreases the Barrier. Potential step and Depletion region
Reversed bias increases the Barrier. changes are same as in the P-N Junction.
Image Force Barrier Lowering
An electron leaving a metal sees an image force pulling it back.
Potential step at the surface of the metal is not abrupt, as we
have Modeled it.
This reduces the barrier seen by the
carriers.
Image Force Barrier Lowering
The image force reduces the barrier.
Furthermore, the barrier reduction increases with increasing reverse bias:
This means the current does not saturate in reverse bias (unlike the case in a p-
n diode).
Depletion Region Width and Field Changes
Whenever, appears in the expression for depletion region width and electric
field, it is replaced by .
Depletion width increases Peak Electric Reversed bias.
Region Width in Reversed field ():
(): bias.
The peak
electric field
decreases in
Depletion region Forward bias.
width decreases The peak
in Forward bias. electric field
Depletion region increases in
Currents
The barrier seen by electrons in the metal does not change with bias,
whereas the barrier seen by those in the semiconductor does.
Thus, the carrier flux (current) is that of majority carriers from the
semiconductor flowing into the metal.
Metal-semiconductor junctions are primarily majority carrier devices.
Minority carrier injection into the semiconductor can usually be
neglected;
The NET CURRENT is the current from the semiconductor to the metal,
minus the current from the metal to the semiconductor:
Key Features of Metal Semi-conductor Junctions
majority carrier devices, negligible minority carrier injection
relatively low barrier to forward current flow
depletion and field extend to surface
Important Applications:
Ohmic contacts: an essential component of any electronic device
Determining doping profiles: a key diagnostic technique in device fabrication
Shunt diodes: to reduce switching transients in bipolar transistor logic
Microwave diodes
FET gate (MESFETs)
OHMIC CONTACTS:
Ohmic contacts are low impedance contacts that allow current flow regardless
of the polarity of the bias.
How to make an Ohmic Contact?
In order to make an
ohmic contact, we need
to use clever doping…
Requirements for Ohmic Contacts:
1. Low contact resistance to both N+ and P+ regions
2. Ease of formation (deposition, etching)
3. Compatibility with Si processing (cleaning etc.)
4. No diffusion of the contact metal in Si or SiO2
5. No unwanted reaction with Si or SiO2 and other materials used in backend
technology.
6. No impact on the electrical characteristics of the shallow junction
7. Long term stability
Conduction Mechanism
Low Doping
- All thermionic emission
Moderate Doping
- Some thermionic emission and some field
emission.
High Doping
- Mostly Field emission
CONTACT RESISTANCE:
LINEAR OHMIC CONTACT:
Formed between metals and silicon with metal work function of metal close to the
energy of conducting carriers in Si
for p-Si or for n- Si.
The barrier for one of the carriers is very small that the carriers can move freely
across the two material
TUNNELING CONTACT:
Non-rectifying contact can also be formed by using Schottky junction with very
low breakdown voltage
Commonly formed between Aluminum and n+ Silicon
Very heavy n + doping can also reduce the series resistance
Implication Of Ohmic Contact
Structures
For most devices, n+ or p+ should be added before connecting to metal to
avoid unwanted junctions
For example, more realistic structure of N+/P junction:
The heavily doped region can also reduce the series resistance of the diode
