Electrical properties and microstructures of Au/Pt/Ti/Ni ohmic contacts to p-type ZnTe

Abstract

Electrical properties and microstructures of Au/Pt/Ti/Ni ohmic contacts to p-type ZnTe were investigated using the transmission line model method and cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy. The specific contact resistance decreases when the annealing temperature is increased and reaches a minimum at 300 °C. The formation of NiTe2 from the reaction between Ni and ZnTe plays an important role in lowering the contact resistance. A contact stability test performed at 102 °C suggests that these ohmic contacts are stable even under high-current injection.