Investigation of temperature dependent negative capacitance in the forward bias C-V characteristics of (Au/Ti)/Al2O3/n-GaAs Schottky barrier diodes (SBDs)

In this study, a metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) type Schottky barrier diodes (SBDs) were fabricated by growing a thin Al2O3 insulator layer between Au/Ti and n-GaAs using atomic layer deposition (ALD) method. The effect of temperature and voltage on interface states (Nss) and series resistance (Rs) of the (Au/Ti)/Al2O3/n-GaAs (MIS) type Schottky barrier diodes (SBDs) was investigated using the capacitance/conductance-voltage (C/(G/ω)-V) data measured in wide range of temperature (200–380 K) and voltage ( ± 5 V). It was found that C and G/ω are strongly dependent on temperature and voltage. The value of C in the forward bias region reaches to maximum and then becomes negative. This negative capacitance (NC) behavior of this SBD is observed for each temperature level. Also, capacitance-current (C-I) and conductance-current (G/ω-I) plots were drawn to explain the NC behavior. The negative value of C in the accumulation region corresponds to the maximum value of G/ω. Such behavior of C can be explained by the loss of interface charges located at (Al2O3)/n-GaAs interface because of impact ionization process, the existence of surface states (Nss), series resistance (Rs) and interfacial of (Al2O3) oxide layer.Therefore, the voltage dependent profiles of Rs and Nss were obtained using Nicollian-Brews and Hill-Colleman methods for enough high forward biases as a function of temperature at various positive bias voltages. The changes in Rs and Nss values were attributed to restructure and reordering of the carriers under temperature and voltage effects.