Steady-state current through a multilayer homostructure

General analytical formulas are used to describe macroscopic steady-state transport properties in abrupt L-H (n⁺-n, p⁺-p) homostructures as a function of the potential barrier-height reduction. Excellent agreement is found between the theoretical characteristics and previously reported experimental or numerical results. The experiments have been carried out on a family of four Si samples differing only in thickness of the inserted lightly doped layer. An original method for experimental thickness measurements of multilayer structures was employed. The I(V) characteristics have been studied in the steady state and in the pulsed regime (quasi-static). The results establish five bias intervals and three conduction current components. It is shown that the electric properties resulting from a relatively thin multilayer homostructure may be much more sensitive to the geometric factor than to the intrinsic properties of the material composing the inserted layer