Extending the metal-induced gap state model of Schottky barriers

Fermi level pinning at Schottky barriers strongly limits the minimization of contact resistances in devices and thereby limits the scaling of modern Si electronic devices, so it is useful to understand the full range of behaviors of Schottky barriers. The authors find that some semiconductor interfaces with compound metals like silicides have apparently weaker Fermi level pinning. This occurs as these metals have an underlying covalent skeleton, whose interfaces with semiconductors lead to miscoordinated defect sites that create additional localized interface states that go beyond the standard metal-induced gap states (MIGSs) model of Schottky barriers. This causes a stronger dependence of Schottky barrier height on the metal and on interface orientation. These states are argued to be an additional component needed to extend the MIGS model.