Temperature Dependent Current-Voltage Characteristics of n-Type Nanocrystalline-FeSi2/p-Type Si Heterojunctions Fabricated by Pulsed Laser Deposition

Abstract

n-Type NC-FeSi2/p-type Si heterojunctions were successfully fabricated by PLD, and their forward current-voltage characteristics were analyzed on the basis of thermionic emission theory (TE) in the temperature range from 300 down to 77 K. With a decrease in the temperature, the ideality factor was increased while the zero-bias barrier height was decreased. The calculated values of ideality factor and barrier height were 3.07 and 0.63 eV at 300 K and 10.75 and 0.23 eV at 77 K. The large value of ideality factor indicated that a tunneling process contributes to the carrier transport mechanisms in the NC-FeSi2 films. The series resistance, which was estimated by Cheungs method, was strongly dependent on temperature. At 300 K, the value of series resistance was 12.44 Ω and it was dramatically enhanced to be 1.71× 105 Ω at 77 K.