Room-temperature electrical characteristics of Pd/SiC diodes with embedded Au nanoparticles at the interface

We investigate the effects of localized controlled nanometric inhomogeneities, represented by Au nanoparticles, on the electrical properties of Pd/SiC Schottky diodes. In particular, we investigate the effects of the nanoparticle radius R on the current-voltage characteristics. The main result concerns the strong dependence of the effective Schottky barrier height of the Pd/SiC contact on R, giving a practical technique to tailor, in a wide range, such a barrier height by simply changing the process parameters during the diode preparation. Then, from a basic understanding point of view, such data allow us to test the Tung model describing the effects of inhomogeneities on the electrical properties of Schottky diodes. These nanostructured diodes are proposed as possible components of integrated complex nanoelectronic devices. © 2010 American Institute of Physics.