Electronic Structure of Semiconductor Interfaces

This concise volume examines the characteristic electronic parameters of semiconductor interfaces, namely the barrier heights of metal-semiconductor or Schottky contacts and the valence-band discontinuities of semiconductor-semiconductor interfaces or heterostructures. Both are determined by the same concept, namely the wave-function tails of electron states overlapping a semiconductor band gap directly at the interface. These interface-induced gap states (IFIGS) result from the complex band structure of the corresponding semiconductor. The IFIGS are characterized by two parameters, namely by their branch point, at which their charge character changes from predominantly valence-band- to conduction-band-like, and secondly by the proportionality factor or slope parameter of the corresponding electric-dipole term, which varies in proportion to the difference in the electronegativities of the two solids forming the interface. This IFIGS-and-electronegativity concept consistently and quantitatively explains the experimentally observed barrier heights of Schottky contacts as well as the valence-band offsets of heterostructures. Insulators are treated as wide band-gap semiconductors.

In addition, this book:

• Explains the formation of interface-induced gap states and electric dipoles in Schottky contacts and heterostructures
• Includes experimental Schottky barrier heights, slope parameters, and valence-band offsets for a range of semiconductors

• Compares theoretical and experimental barrier heights of Schottky contacts and valence-band offsets of heterostructures.