Effective Richardson Constant of Sol-Gel Derived TiO2 Films in n-TiO2/p-Si Heterojunctions

Abstract

The effective Richardson constant of sol-gel derived TiO2 thin film has been estimated possibly for the first time from temperature-dependent current-voltage (I-V-T) characteristics of p-Si/n-TiO2 thin-film heterojunction diode by including the barrier height inhomogeneity at p-Si/n-TiO2 interface. The thermionic emission theory-based I-V-T characteristics have been modified by assuming a Gaussian distributed barrier height at the heterojunction interface. The Richardson plot shows a nearly ideal Richardson constant of 1265.57 Acm-2K-2, which is not only very close to its theoretical value of 1200 Acm-2K-2 for n-TiO2 (with mn∗= 10m0), but also the first result reported. © 2017 IEEE.