The problem of Fermi-level pinning at semiconductor-metal contacts is readdressed starting from first-principles calculations for Al/GaAs. We give quantitative evidence that the Schottky barrier height is very little affected by any structural distortions on the metal side---including elongations of the metal-semiconductor bond (i.e. interface strain)---whereas it strongly depends on the interface structure on the semiconductor side. A rationale for these findings is given in terms of the interface dipole generated by the ionic effective charges.
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/9704157,
title = {The effects of interface morphology on Schottky barrier heights: a case study on Al/GaAs(001)},
author = {Alice Ruini and Raffaele Resta and Stefano Baroni},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/9704157},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
5 pages, latex file, 2 postscript figures automatically included