Reduction of metal-semiconductor contact resistance by embedded nanocrystals

By utilizing the enhanced electric fields from self-assembled metal nanocrystals embedded in another metal with a different work function, we demonstrate a novel scheme to significantly enhance the tunneling current through a metal/semiconductor interface. Improvement in contact resistance by more than 100 times has been demonstrated for cases originally limited by the interface doping concentration or the annealing thermal budget. This new technique offers an additional process option to source/drain contacts, especially for low-temperature TFTs and Schottky-barrier MOSFETs.