Mean Barrier Height and Richardson Constant for Pd/ZnO Thin Film-Based Schottky Diodes Grown on n-Si Substrates by Thermal Evaporation Method

This letter reports the temperature-dependent electrical parameters of Pd/n-ZnO thin film-based Schottky diodes grown on n-Si substrates by thermal evaporation method. The parameters have been investigated by considering a Gaussian distributed barrier height across the Pd/n-ZnO interface with a standard deviation σ₀ around a mean barrier height qφB,m. As compared with the reported results, the estimated values of the Richardson constant (~19.54Acm^-2K^-2) and mean barrier height (~1.41 eV) are much closer to their theoretically predicted values of 32Acm^-2K^-2 (for m_e*=0.27 m0) and 1.42 eV (for work function of Pd = 5.12 eV and electron affinity of ZnO = 3.7 eV), respectively.