An investigation of the electrical properties of the interface between pyrolytic carbon and silicon for Schottky diode applications

An investigation of the electrical properties of the interface between nano-crystalline, pyrolytic carbon, and silicon is presented. We have deposited conductive carbon films on silicon substrates by the pyrolysis of ethene and structured them into Schottky diodes in order to evaluate the electrical properties of the interface. The results show that the Schottky barrier to n-doped silicon is 0.46 eV, whereas for p-doped silicon, it is 0.66 eV. The carbon to n-type silicon barrier height is comparable to the values for metal silicide contacts in commercial devices. The results imply that no interfacial layer is formed and show the absence of Fermi-level pinning.