The Effects of Ion Beam Etching on Si, Ge, GaAs , and InP Schottky Barrier Diodes

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Abstract
The effects of ion beam etching (IBE) on the electrical properties of Schottky barriers on four kinds of semiconductors (Si, Ge, , and ) were investigated. For diodes processed with IBE after metal deposition where the active device region is protected by the metal layer and only the surrounding substrate area is exposed to the beam, our results showed that the diode breakdown voltages increased 2–15 times for p‐type substrates, but decreased 2–4 times for n‐type substrates. The barrier heights, , on p substrates were observed to remain unchanged, while the barrier heights, , were found to decrease on n substrates. For diodes processed with IBE before metal deposition, the diode characteristics are similar to those processed with IBE after metal deposition; the only notable exception is that the barrier heights on p substrates increased for this case, while remained unchanged for diodes processed with IBE after metal deposition. The effects of IBE are observed to disappear and the diodes recover to their original characteristics upon annealing at temperatures between 300° and 375°C. These effects are consistent with the concept that ion beam processing induces donor‐like defects near the surface region of the semiconductor exposed to the ions.

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