Rectifying characteristics of boron doped Si microneedle grown by in-situ doping VLS

The electrical characteristics of boron doped silicon micro needle grown at low temperature by vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) mechanism is reported in this paper. Intrinsic silicon micro needle can be doped by conventional diffusion process at 1100°C after VLS growth but in this work in-situ doping is used which requires lower temperature at around 700°C. Boron doped p-type Si microneedles were grown by in situ doped VLS mechanism and the I-V characteristic was observed. It was found that the incorporation of doping reduces the resistivity of the needles and shows nonlinear I-V characteristic. Mathematical model of the I-V characteristic is proposed in this paper which is supported by the experimental values and simulation results. This model will be useful while using the needle as a sensor required for certain application.