Chawanda, AlbertMtangi, WilbertAuret, Francois DanieNel, Jacqueline MargotNyamhere, CloudDiale, M. (Mmantsae Moche)2012-06-122012-06-122012-05Albert Chawanda, Wilbert Mtangi, Francois D. Auret, Jacqueline Nel, Cloud Nyamhere & Mmantsae Diale, Current-voltage temperature characteristics of Au/n-Ge (1 0 0) Schottky diodes, Physica B, Vol. 407, no. 10, pp. 1574-1577 (2012), doi: 10.1016/j.physb.2011.09.0890921-4526 (print)1873-2135 (online)10.1016/j.physb.2011.09.089http://hdl.handle.net/2263/19145The variation in electrical characteristics of Au/n-Ge (1 0 0) Schottky contacts have been systematically investigated as a function of temperature using current-voltage (I-V) measurements in the temperature range 140-300 K. The I-V characteristics of the diodes indicate very strong temperature dependence. While the ideality factor n decreases, the zero-bias Schottky barrier height (SBH) ( ɸʙ) increases with the increasing temperature. The I-V characteristics are analysed using the thermionic emission (TE) model and the assumption of a Gaussian distribution of the barrier heights ɸʙ vs. ½ kT plot has been used to show the evidence of a Gaussian distribution of barrier heights and values of ɸʙ = 0.615 eV and standard deviation σs0 = 0.00858 eV for the mean barrier height and zero-bias standard deviation have been obtained from this plot, respectively. The Richardson constant and the mean barrier height from the modified Richardson plot were obtained as 1.37 A cm-2 K-2 and 0.639 eV, respectively. This Richardson constant is much smaller than the reported of 50 A cm-2 K-2. This may be due to greater inhomogeneities at the interface.en© 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Schottky contactsCurrent–voltage–temperatureSchottky barrierheightSchottky diodesGaussian distributionInhomogeneous materialsPostprint Article