Schottky barrier height of Ni/TiO2/4H-SiC metal-insulator-semiconductor diodes

Ni/TiO2/4H-SiC diodes were analysed through measurements of current-voltage curves varying the temperature. The Schottky Barrier Height (SBH) which increased with temperature was studied by simulation of the Thermionic Emission Model, considering Ni/SiC Schottky structures with an insulator layer between the metal and semiconductor. This model shows that a new method of calculation should be applied to diodes that have a metal-insulator-semiconductor structure. Misleading results for SBH are obtained if the thin insulator layer is not considered. When applying the suggested method to the Ni/TiO2/4H-SiC diodes it was necessary to consider not only the deposited TiO2 layer, but also a second dielectric layer of native SiCxOy at the surface of SiC. By measuring I-V-T curves for two samples with different thicknesses of TiO2, the suggested method allows one to estimate the thicknesses of both dielectric layers: TiO2 and SiOxCy.