Electrical and optical characteristics of Au/PbS/n-6H-SiC structures prepared by electrodeposition of PbS thin film on n-type 6H-SiC substrate

To realize Schottky barrier height (SBH) modification in the Au/n-6H-SiC Schottky diodes, lead sulfide (PbS) thin films were grown on n-6H-SiC by electrodeposition method. At first, XRD experiments were performed to investigate the crystal structure of the PbS film electrodeposited on n-6H-SiC. It has been deduced from the diffraction profile that the PbS thin film has a crystal structure more strongly oriented along the 2 0 0] direction. An optical energy band gap value of 1.42 eV for the PbS film was obtained from its optical absorption spectra. Then, we have prepared Au/PbS/n-6H-SiC Schottky barrier diodes (SBDs) with interface layer and reference Au/n-6H-SiC/Ni SBDs. The SBH enhancement has been succeeded by the PbS interlayer, influencing the space charge region of the SiC. The SBH values of 1.03 and 0.97 eV for the samples with and without the interfacial PbS layer were obtained from the forward bias current-voltage (I-V) characteristics. The SBH increase in the Au/PbS/n-6H-SiC SBD with the interfacial PbS layer has been attributed to the fact that the interface states contain a net negative interface charge in metal/n-type semiconductor contact due to the presence of the interfacial PbS layer.