ELECTRICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF METAL SCHOTTKY CONTACTS ON LUMINESCENTPOROUS SILICON

Metal contacts have been deposited on porous silicon obtained from n e pitaxial layers and from n(+) substrates. The optical properties of th e material have been verified. The current-voltage (I-V) characteristi cs of the metal/porous silicon/crystalline silicon structures are poor ly reproducible from sample to sample, even in the case of the same fa brication process, A common trend was observed in the semilog I-V plan e, that is a change of the slope d(lnI)/dV which occurred for forward voltages of about 0.5 V. Instabilities and current degradation effects have been observed in the forward current at room temperature. I-V me asurements on annealed Schottky contacts and free-standing layers indi cate that the metal-porous silicon barrier plays a significant role in the transport mechanisms.