Current transport in strained n-Si1−xGex/p-Si heterojunction diodes

Abstract
The measurement and analysis of IV characteristics from molecular beam epitaxially grown Si0.9Ge0.1/Si pn diodes are presented. When a diode is forward biased the current transport is mainly injection diffusion of the holes and defect recombination within the depletion region of the n side. At reverse bias, the current comes from tunneling of holes from the top of the p‐type valence band to the n‐type conduction band, and also to the interface states followed by multistep recombination tunneling via defect states in the depletion region of the n side. The forward voltage drop was found to be much lower than that of Si diodes. Electron irradiation damages have opposite effects on the forward‐biased IV characteristics of Si0.9Ge0.1/Si diodes as compared to the effects observed for Si diodes.

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