Electrical characterization of two analogous Schottky contacts produced from N-substituted 1,8-naphthalimide

The aim of this study was to analyze the interface states (Nss) in pure Al//p-Si/Al, Al/N-F Nft/p-Si/Al and Al/N-T Nft/p-Si/Al Schottky barrier diodes (SBDs). N-Substituted 1,8-naphthalimide thin films were deposited on a p-Si substrate by spin coating and annealed at ∼200 °C for 60 s under an air atmosphere. Al contacts were obtained via reactive magnetron sputtering. The current voltage (I–V) characteristics of the SBDs were measured at room temperature. From the I–V characteristics, the SBDs ideality factor (n) and zero-bias barrier height values (Φb) of 1.27, 1.00, and 1.05 and 0.66 eV, 0.70 eV, and 0.64 eV were observed for the Al//p-Si/Al, Al/N-F Nft/p-Si/Al and Al/N-T Nft/p-Si/Al Schottky barrier diodes, respectively. The interface state density distribution profile (Nss) as a function of (Ess–Ev) was extracted from the forward-bias I–V measurements by considering the effective barrier height and (Φe) and series resistance (Rs) of the Schottky diode. The obtained Nss plot tendency showed that the existence of interface states has no significant effect on the rectifying and capacitance characteristics. The Nss values with the 1,8-naphthalimide layer were lower than that without it. This shows that naphthalimide exhibits a strong contribution by blocking the unwanted states and some traps in the conduction mechanism, which may cause possible cracks or deep paths for carriers to travel along the junction.