Mean barrier height of Pd Schottky contacts on ZnO thin films

Abstract

We have investigated the temperature dependence of the barrier height of high-quality Pd Schottky contacts on (0001)-oriented ZnO thin films by temperature-dependent current-voltage and capacitance-voltage (CV) measurements. The films have been grown by pulsed-laser deposition. The effective Schottky barrier height ΦB,eff deduced from the current-voltage measurements was evaluated by considering a Gaussian barrier height distribution with a standard deviation σ around a mean barrier height ΦB,m. We determined ΦB,m=(1.16±0.04)eV which agrees well with the value of 1.14eV determined by CV measurements. The standard deviation is determined to be (134±10)meV.