Extremely low resistivity erbium ohmic contacts to n-type silicon

Abstract
Employing structures consisting of Pt, Si, and Er layers on Si, contacts to nSi with resistivities as low as 3.7×10−8 Ω cm2 were obtained and a low‐leakage high‐breakdown voltage Schottky diode on pSi was realized. Measured contact resistivities are lowest among the known contacts to nSi. Extended transmission line method measurements were made to determine contact resistivities for contacts to n‐type silicon doped in the range 1018 –1020 cm−3 . The data are consistent with a barrier height of ∼0.37 eV. The metallurgy of the contacts was studied using transmission electron microscopy.