Speaker
Apply to be<br> considered for a student <br> award (Yes / No)?
Yes
Level for award<br> (Hons, MSc, <br> PhD)?
MSc
Abstract content <br> (Max 300 words)<br><a href="http://events.saip.org.za/getFile.py/access?resId=0&materialId=0&confId=34" target="_blank">Formatting &<br>Special chars</a>
The current-voltage (I-V) characteristics of Pd/ZnO Schottky barrier diodes were measured in the 30-370K temperature range and have been interpreted based on the assumption of a Gaussian distribution of the barrier heights due to the barrier inhomogeneities that prevail at the interface. It shows that the occurrence of a Gaussian distribution of the barrier height is responsible for the decrease of the apparent barrier height , increase of the ideality factor n and non-linearity in the activation energy plot at low temperature. The inhomogeneities are considered to have a Gaussian distribution mean barrier height of = 0.985 eV and a standard deviation of =0.022 V at zero bias. Furthermore, the mean barrier height and the Richardson constant values were obtained as 0.883 and 0.541 A K-2cm-2 , respectively by means of the modified Richardson plot. Hence, it has been concluded that the temperature dependence of the I-V characteristics of the Schottky barrier on Pd/ZnO can be successfully explained based on thermionic emission mechanism with a Gaussian distribution of the barrier heights.
Main supervisor (name and email)<br>and his / her institution
M. Diale. mmantsae.diale@up.ac.za
Department of Physics, University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0002, South Africa
Would you like to <br> submit a short paper <br> for the Conference <br> Proceedings (Yes / No)?
No
