A Current-Voltage Model for Double Schottky Barrier Devices

Schottky barriers (SBs) are often formed at the semiconductor/metal contacts and affect the electrical behavior of semiconductor devices. In particular, SBs are playing a major role in the investigation of the electrical properties of mono and 2D nanostructured materials, although their impact on the current-voltage characteristics is frequently neglected or misunderstood. In this work, a single equation is proposed to describe the current-voltage characteristics of two-terminal semiconductor devices with Schottky contacts. The equation is applied to numerically simulate the electrical behavior for both ideal and nonideal SBs. The proposed model can be used to directly estimate the SB height and the ideality factor. It is applied to perfectly reproduce the experimental current-voltage characteristics of ultrathin molybdenum disulfide or tungsten diselenide nanosheets and tungsten disulfide nanotubes. The model constitutes a useful tool for the analysis and the extraction of relevant transport parameters in any two-terminal device with Schottky contacts.

Automated summary

Schottky barriers are formed at semiconductor/metal contacts and have a significant impact on the electrical behavior of semiconductor devices. A new equation has been proposed to describe the current-voltage characteristics of two-terminal semiconductor devices with Schottky contacts, which can be used to estimate the SB height and ideality factor. The model has been successfully applied to reproduce experimental current-voltage characteristics of nanostructured materials like ultrathin molybdenum disulfide and tungsten diselenide nanosheets.