High barrier height nickel/GaAs schottky diodes fabricated by addition of Pr₂O₃ into a Ga melt for liquid phase epitaxy

A high Schottky barrier and low leakage current Ni/GaAs diode was fabricated by addition of an appropriate amount of Pr₂O₃ into a Ga melt for liquid phase epitaxy (LPE), which was brought about by removel of oxygen and sulfer impurities and induction of a slight increase in the concentration of carbon impurities at the grown surfaces. These effects not only enhanced the Schttky barrier height but also reduced the leakage current. Excellent properties of a Schottky barrier as high as 0.94±0.01 eV and an ideality factor as low as 1.02±0.01 were obtained.