Leakage current analysis of diamond Schottky barrier diode

Abstract

The current-voltage characteristics of non-punch-through-type diamond Schottky barrier diodes (SBDs) are analyzed by using thermionic and thermionic-field emission (TFE) models. Diamond SBD with defects such as nonepitaxial crystallites (NCs) shows shunt path conductance both under forward and reverse bias conditions. However, SBD without NCs shows a low reverse leakage current density of less than 1×10−11A∕cm2, which is more than 12 orders of magnitude smaller than the forward current density. From the fitting of the reverse leakage current of SBD without NCs, TFE current dominates when the reverse electric field is larger than 1.2MV∕cm and its current density value reaches 10−6A∕cm2 even at 1.6MV∕cm, which is lower than the avalanche limit.