Title
Transmission of high-energy electrons through metal-semiconductor Schottky junctions
Date Issued
04 November 2019
Access level
open access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Donatini F.
Hehn M.
Lacour D.
Lassailly Y.
Peretti J.
Rougemaille N.
Univ. Grenoble Alpes
Publisher(s)
American Physical Society
Abstract
Using the electron beam of a scanning electron microscope as an external current source with tunable energy, we investigate the transport properties of high-energy electrons injected from vacuum into the metal layer of Pt/Cu/Si Schottky junctions. When the injection energy is varied between 1 and 30 keV, the current transmitted into the semiconductor increases by several orders of magnitude and reaches values orders of magnitude larger than the current injected from vacuum. Inspecting the energy dependence of the transmitted current we identify two transport regimes. In the limit of low injection energies and thick metal films, the transport is dominated by the formation and propagation of a secondary electron distribution in the metal layer. However, when the injection energy is sufficiently large and the metal layer sufficiently thin, electrons are transmitted into the semiconductor with negligible energy loss, i.e., the metal layer becomes essentially transparent. The transmitted current is then dominated by impact ionization in the semiconductor. When the metal layer of the Schottky junction is relatively thick and the injection energy of a few keV typically, the transmitted current increases abruptly. The origin of this abrupt change is interpreted as a combined effect of a quasiballistic electron transport in the metal layer and a sudden variation of the density of states in the semiconductor substrate.
Volume
100
Issue
20
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Física y Astronomía
Ciencias naturales
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85075334868
Source
Physical Review B
ISSN of the container
24699950
Sponsor(s)
This work was supported by the Agence Nationale de la Recherche through Project No. ANR-16-CE09-0025 “POLARSPIN”. APPENDIX
Sources of information:
Directorio de Producción Científica
Scopus