STABILITY OFSe-TlSCHOTTKY JUNCTIONS

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Abstract
Evaporation of thallium on a crystallized layer of selenium results in an excellent Schottky diode, exhibiting a forward-to-reverse current ratio at 1 volt of some four to five orders of magnitude and a forward ideality factor close to unity. However, with the passage of time, there is a degradation in these electrical characteristics, if the thallium is exposed to the atmosphere, even at room temperature. The observed changes are a progressive increase in series resistance and a decrease in parallel capacitance. However, the changes with time can be greatly reduced if the thallium is covered with an evaporated film of Wood's metal. X-ray diffraction analysis of films of thallium deposited on glass substrates, shows that after prolonged exposure to air, the film is progressively transformed into Tl2CO3 . Oxide formation is only apparent after storage in oxygen, rather than air. The electrical degradation in the diodes is thus the result of atmospheric conversion of metallic thallium into the less conducting carbonate.

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