Magnetite Schottky barriers on GaAs substrates

The electrical transport properties across the interface of hybrid Fe₃O₄/GaAs(001) structures were investigated in this study. The substrates with p- and n-type structures of different doping levels were used. Rectification was observed for the medium-doped substrates. It was determined that the Schottky barrier height of medium doped n-type structure was 0.55-0.6 eV while that of the medium p-type structure was 0.45 eV. At high doping level, the transport characteristics of the substrates were found to be linear at room temperature but strongly nonlinear at low temperatures. It was concluded that with proper engineering of the semiconductor surface doping profile, it is possible to isolate different transport modes for spin injection experiments.