A new mechanism for modulation of Schottky barrier heights on silicon nanowires

For nanowires with Schottky barriers on the end surfaces, charges on the walls of the wire are close enough to the metal–semiconductor interface to influence the Schottky barrier. This is similar to an effect in planar structures, where impurities with energy levels below the Fermi level in the bulk of the substrate material will change charge state in the depletion region of a metal–semiconductor structure if the Schottky barrier is high enough to bring the impurity energy level above the Fermi level. The mechanism for barrier modulation is the same in both cases and occurs in nanowires as a result of the wire geometry.