Simulation to Study the Effect of Carrier Concentration on I-V Characteristics of Schottky Diode

The current-voltage characteristics for Au/n-Si Schottky diode are generated by simulation. The simulation performed using Newton-Raphson iteration method yields current-voltage characteristics over wide temperature range. The data is analyzed using TDE-mechanism to study the temperature dependence of barrier height and ideality factor. Results obtained from simulation studies show the barrier height and ideality factor are independent of temperature for pure TE-mechanism. Thus the simulation of I-V characteristics is performed by incorporating ideality factor, obtained on the basis of carrier concentration from 1022-1024 atoms/m3. The result of analysis yield barrier height is still independent of temperature but the ideality factor becomes temperature dependent and this dependence of ideality factor on temperature increases with increase in carrier concentration. Further, the temperature dependence of barrier height and ideality factor is discussed and simulation of current-voltage characteristics is performed. *Corresponding author: Sharma R, Department of Applied Sciences, Model Institute of Engineering and Technology, Jammu (J&K), India, Tel: 9018312123; E-mail: [email protected] Received October 19, 2015; Accepted November 19, 2015; Published November 29, 2015 Citation: Sharma R (2015) Simulation to Study the Effect of Carrier Concentration on I-V Characteristics of Schottky Diode. J Material Sci Eng 5: 213. doi:10.4172/21690022.1000213 Copyright: © 2015 Sharma R. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Schottky diode also. S. Chand and J. Kumar [10] and S. Chand and S. Bala [11,12] have carried out a detailed study on Schottky diode by using simulation. However, all these studies are based on barrier inhomogeneity model (Gaussian). In present paper a different approach has been adopted to explain the temperature dependence of barrier height through simulation of I-V characteristics of Schottky diode. Method of Simulation On the basis of Bathe’s thermionic emission theory [13], the forward I V characteristics of an ideal Schottky barrier diode can be expressed as exp S qV I I kT   =     (1) where * 2 exp bo S I A ST kT φ −   =     (2) IS is the diode saturation current, A* is the Richardson constant, S is the diode area, φbo is the barrier height, T is the temperature and k is the Boltzman constant. The simulation of I-V characteristics using eq. (1) is performed through computer programming (GW-Basic) using Newton-Raphson iteration method. Parameters used for simulation are: diode area S = 7.87 10-7m2 (corresponding to diameter 1mm), effective Richardson constant A* = 1.12 × 106 Am-2K-2 (for n-type silicon), barrier height φbo = 0.8 eV (Au/n-Si device), and Rs = 10Ω. Results and Discussion At any temperature, for V >> 3kT/q, eq (1) predicts, the ln(I) vs V plot should be a straight line with unit slope and its intercept at zeroCitation: Sharma R (2015) Simulation to Study the Effect of Carrier Concentration on I-V Characteristics of Schottky Diode. J Material Sci Eng 5: 213. doi:10.4172/2169-0022.1000213