Severe Fermi level pinning at the interface between n-Ge and a metal leads to the formation of a Schottky barrier, almost independent on the metal work function. Therefore, it seems impossible to form metal Ohmic contacts on moderately, n-type doped Ge layers. For p-type Ge, the Fermi level pinning works opposite: all metal contacts show Ohmic behavior. This fixed behavior can be altered by the introduction of a thin Ge3N4 layer. Ge3N4 seems effective in reducing Fermi level pinning and, therefore, allows the formation of Ohmic contacts on n-type Ge and a rectifying contact on p-type Ge. (c) 2008 American Institute of Physics
Lieten, R, Degroote, S, Kuijk, M & Borghs, G 2008, 'Ohmic contact formation on n-type Ge', Applied Physics Letters, vol. 92, pp. 22106.
Lieten, R., Degroote, S., Kuijk, M., & Borghs, G. (2008). Ohmic contact formation on n-type Ge. Applied Physics Letters, 92, 22106.
@article{39c40ced87e84bd19c5aa0c91c3e4ccd,
title = "Ohmic contact formation on n-type Ge",
abstract = "Severe Fermi level pinning at the interface between n-Ge and a metal leads to the formation of a Schottky barrier, almost independent on the metal work function. Therefore, it seems impossible to form metal Ohmic contacts on moderately, n-type doped Ge layers. For p-type Ge, the Fermi level pinning works opposite: all metal contacts show Ohmic behavior. This fixed behavior can be altered by the introduction of a thin Ge3N4 layer. Ge3N4 seems effective in reducing Fermi level pinning and, therefore, allows the formation of Ohmic contacts on n-type Ge and a rectifying contact on p-type Ge. (c) 2008 American Institute of Physics",
keywords = "Ohmic contact formation",
author = "Ruben Lieten and Stefan Degroote and Maarten Kuijk and Gustaaf Borghs",
year = "2008",
month = jan,
day = "14",
language = "English",
volume = "92",
pages = "22106",
journal = "Applied Physics Letters",
issn = "0003-6951",
publisher = "American Institute of Physics Publising LLC",
}