Electrical properties of Sn/p-Si (MS) Schottky barrier diodes to be exposed to 60Co γ-ray source

In this research, we have investigated the electrical properties of metal-semiconductor (Sn/p-Si) Schottky barrier diodes (SBDs) under 60Co gamma (γ)-rays. These devices is stressed with a zero-bias during 60Co γ -ray source irradiation with the dose rate 2.12 kGy/h and total dose range was 0–500 kGy at room temperature. Electrical measurements of Sn/p-Si SBDs have been performed using current–voltage (I–V) and capacitance-voltage (C–V) techniques. Experimental results show that gamma-irradiation induces an increase in the barrier height Φb(C–V) obtained from reverse-bias C–V measurements with increasing dose rate. However, the barrier height Φb(I–V) obtained from forward-bias I–V measurements remained almost constant. This negligible change of Φb(I–V) is attributed to the low barrier height in regions associated with the surface termination of dislocations. On the other hand, the values of the ideality factor obtained from I–V measurements increased with increasing dose rate. The results show that the main effect of the radiation is the generation of laterally inhomogeneous defects near the semiconductor surface.