A new symmetry-based extraction method of Schottky diode parameters from resistance-compensated I-V characteristics

TL;DR

This paper introduces a symmetry-based, resistance-compensated I-V method for extracting key parameters of Schottky diodes, demonstrating improved accuracy and applicability to empirical data.

Contribution

A novel symmetry-based differential equation approach for Schottky diode parameter extraction, validated on experimental data and compared favorably with existing methods.

Findings

Series resistance varies exponentially with bias and illumination.

Barrier height decreases with bias, unaffected by illumination.

Method yields results consistent with literature and potentially more accurate.

Abstract

We present a novel resistance-compensated I-V method to extract the series resistance, ideality factor, barrier height and built-in potential of a metal-semiconductor diode. We show that a reduced equation arises from a unique but hitherto unreported symmetry in the Schottky equation when it is written as an ordinary differential equation. In spite of the intense mathematical justification, we show how this new equation is directly applicable to an empirical data set through a simple algorithm. We test the method on a new Al/p-Si/Bi$_2$Se$_3$/Al Schottky diode and compare it with the Cheung-Cheung method on the same data. The series resistance was found to change exponentially with applied bias with a rate constant that depends on the incident illumination. The barrier height decreased with bias but was independent of the incident illumination. The trends in the results of the method agree strongly with the literature and may yield more accurate diode parameters compared to other electrical methods.