Conduction Mechanisms and Low-Temperature Anomalies in the Electrical Characteristics of Ga– $\hbox {pWSe}_{2}$ —A Liquid Metal Schottky Structure

Ga-pWSe₂ Schottky diodes were fabricated on both uncleaved and cleaved WSe₂ surfaces and were subjected to forward current-voltage-temperature measurements. The conduction mechanisms have been studied over a temperature range of 140 K-300 K. From and above 200 K onwards, the current-voltage characteristics of both diodes obey thermionic emission (TE) theory with Gaussian barrier height distribution. At temperatures below 200 K, the presence of generation-recombination (GR) and tunneling (TN) currents becomes noticeable. The observed anomalies at low temperatures were effectively interpreted in terms of the combined influence of TE, GR, and TN currents across the interface. Furthermore, the cleaved diode with less surface inhomogeneity showed better characteristics than the uncleaved diode.