Description and Verification of the Fundamental Current Mechanisms in Silicon Carbide Schottky Barrier Diodes

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Author(s)
Nicholls, Jordan
Dimitrijev, Sima
Tanner, Philip
Han, Jisheng
Year published
2019
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Attempts to model the current through Schottky barrier diodes using the two fundamental mechanisms of thermionic emission and tunnelling are adversely impacted by defects and second order effects. This has led to the publication of countless different models to account for these effects, including some with non-physical parameters. Recently, we have developed silicon carbide Schottky barrier diodes that do not suffer from second order effects, such as excessive leakage, carrier generation and recombination, and non-uniform barrier height. In this paper, we derive the foundational current equations to establish clear links ...
View more >Attempts to model the current through Schottky barrier diodes using the two fundamental mechanisms of thermionic emission and tunnelling are adversely impacted by defects and second order effects. This has led to the publication of countless different models to account for these effects, including some with non-physical parameters. Recently, we have developed silicon carbide Schottky barrier diodes that do not suffer from second order effects, such as excessive leakage, carrier generation and recombination, and non-uniform barrier height. In this paper, we derive the foundational current equations to establish clear links between the fundamental current mechanisms and the governing parameters. Comparing these equations with measured current–voltage characteristics, we show that the fundamental equations for tunnelling and thermionic emission can accurately model 4H silicon carbide Schottky barrier diodes over a large temperature and voltage range. Based on the obtained results, we discuss implications and misconceptions regarding barrier inhomogeneity, barrier height measurement, and reverse-bias temperature dependencies.
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View more >Attempts to model the current through Schottky barrier diodes using the two fundamental mechanisms of thermionic emission and tunnelling are adversely impacted by defects and second order effects. This has led to the publication of countless different models to account for these effects, including some with non-physical parameters. Recently, we have developed silicon carbide Schottky barrier diodes that do not suffer from second order effects, such as excessive leakage, carrier generation and recombination, and non-uniform barrier height. In this paper, we derive the foundational current equations to establish clear links between the fundamental current mechanisms and the governing parameters. Comparing these equations with measured current–voltage characteristics, we show that the fundamental equations for tunnelling and thermionic emission can accurately model 4H silicon carbide Schottky barrier diodes over a large temperature and voltage range. Based on the obtained results, we discuss implications and misconceptions regarding barrier inhomogeneity, barrier height measurement, and reverse-bias temperature dependencies.
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Journal Title
Scientific Reports
Volume
9
Issue
1
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2019. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.
Subject
Nanoelectronics
Science & Technology
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Science & Technology - Other Topics
THERMIONIC-FIELD EMISSION
RICHARDSON CONSTANT