Electrical characteristics of Ni Ohmic contact on n-type GeSn

We report an investigation of the electrical and material characteristics of Ni on an n-type GeSn film under thermal annealing. The current-voltage traces measured with the transmission line method are linear for a wide range of annealing temperatures. The specific contact resistivity was found to decrease with increasing annealing temperature, followed by an increase as the annealing temperature further increased, with a minimum value at an annealing temperature of 350 degrees C. The material characteristics at the interface layer were measured by energy-dispersive spectrometer, showing that an atomic ratio of (Ni)/(GeSn) = 1:1 yields the lowest specific contact resistivity. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.