Study of the Electronic Surface States of III-V Compounds
Abstract
Although several theories of Schottky-barrier formation have been proposed, none has emerged as the correct general theory which elucidates the mechanism responsible for the barrier formation. Indeed, there may be no such general theory and, at the present time, it seems more appropriate to study limited classes of semiconductor materials. We have chosen the 3-5 compounds for both theoretical and practical reasons. The cleavage faces of GaAS, GaSb, and InP have the advantage that there are no intrinsic states in the band gap. This is in contrast to the more familiar column 4 semiconductors which do have intrinsic surface states in band gap upon cleaving. It was this concept of intrinsic semiconductor surface states in the gap which was used by Bardeen to explain Schottky-barrier formation on Si. However, the presence of these intrinsic surface states in the gap on the clean cleaved Si (111) surface does not rule out the possibility that other mechanisms may be responsible for surface Fermi energy stabilization after deposition of an overlayer.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 31, 1979
- Accession Number
- ADA073014
Entities
People
- I. Lindau
- William E. Spicer
Organizations
- Stanford University