Schottky Diodes Prepared with Ag, Au, or Pd Contacts on a MgZnO/ZnO Heterostructure

We successfully fabricated lateral Schottky diodes with a thin MgZnO layer inserted between the ZnO and Schottky contact metal layers. The MgZnO/ZnO heterostructure was deposited onto a c-sapphire substrate by pulsed laser deposition using Mg0.3Zn0.7O and ZnO targets. Ti/Au was used to achieve ohmic contact with the Mg0.3Zn0.7O thin film layer, whereas Schottky contacts were prepared using silver (Ag), gold (Au), and palladium (Pd). The Ag Schottky diode devices exhibited rectification ratios as high as ~103 at a bias voltage of ±1 V, with an ideality factor of 2.37 and a work function of 0.73 eV. The possibility of preparing Schottky contacts with a high carrier concentration on the ZnO layer is discussed as a function of the presence or absence of a MgZnO thin layer and in terms of the measured current–voltage properties.