title: Origin of rectification in boron nitride heterojunctions to silicon.
abstract: Cubic and hexagonal boron nitride (cBN and hBN) heterojunctions to n-type Si are fabricated under low-energy ion bombardment by inductively coupled plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition using the chemistry of fluorine. The sp2-bonded BN/Si heterojunction shows no rectification, while the cBN/sp2BN/Si heterojunction has rectification properties analogue to typical p-n junction diodes despite a large thickness (∼130 nm) of the sp2BN interlayer. The current-voltage characteristics at temperatures up to 573 K are governed by thermal excitation of carriers, and mostly described with the ideal diode equation and the Frenkel-Poole emission model at low and high bias voltages, respectively. The rectification in the cBN/sp2BN/Si heterojunction is caused by a bias-dependent change in the barrier height for holes arising from stronger p-type conduction in the cBN layer and enhanced with the thick sp2BN interlayer for impeding the reverse current flow at defect levels mainly associated with grain boundaries.
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Science for Electronics and Materials, Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Engineering Sciences, Kyushu University, Kasuga, Fukuoka 816-8580, Japan. teii@asem.kyushu-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Kungen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Teii
authors.forename: Takuro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hori
authors.forename: Yusei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Mizusako
authors.forename: Seiichiro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Matsumoto