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  • Jaramillo, R; Youssef, Amanda; Akey, Austin; Schoofs, Frank; Ramanathan, Shriram; Buonassisi, Tonio

    arXiv.org, 10/2015
    Paper, Journal Article

    We use electronic transport and atom probe tomography to study ZnO:Al / SiO2 / Si Schottky junctions on lightly-doped n- and p-type Si. We vary the carrier concentration in the the ZnO:Al films by two orders of magnitude but the Schottky barrier height remains constant, consistent with Fermi level pinning seen in metal / Si junctions. Atom probe tomography shows that Al segregates to the interface, so that the ZnO:Al at the junction is likely to be metallic even when the bulk of the ZnO:Al film is semiconducting. We hypothesize that Fermi level pinning is connected to the insulator-metal transition in doped ZnO, and that controlling this transition may be key to un-pinning the Fermi level in oxide / Si Schottky junctions.