DOI: 10.1051/jp3:1994173
J. Phys. III France 4 (1994) 899-916

Geometrical factor in multi-interface homostructures

Z. T. Kuznicki¹, A. Martinez², J.-C. Muller¹ and  P. Siffert<sup>1

1</sup>  Centre de Recherches Nucléaires (IN2P3), Laboratoire PHASE (UPR du CNRS N° 292), 67037 Strasbourg Cedex 2, France and Université Louis Pasteur, Département de Physique, 3 rue de l'Université, 67000 Strasbourg, France
²  Institut National des Sciences Appliquées de Toulouse, av. de Rangueil, 31077 Toulouse Cedex, France and Laboratoire d'Automatique et d'Analyse des Systèmes du CNRS, 7 av. du Colonel Roche, 31077 Toulouse Cedex, France

(Received 2 October 1992, revised 26 March 1993 and 13 January 1994, accepted 24 February 1994)

Abstract
In an experimental investigation carried out on multilayer silicon homostructures (of the n ⁺-n-n ⁺ type) an electric interaction between the two homointerfaces through majority carriers as a function of the geometrical factor has been shown. The two model homointerfaces were formed in the same monocrystal (CVD epitaxy) by only an abrupt change in the impurity doping level. Samples differing in the spacing of their parallel interfaces were characterized in the stationary and steady states (static and quasi-static regimes) to reveal modifications in their macroscopic transport. It has been demonstrated that the thermionic emission current, normally taken into account in the barrier transport (with large potential barriers) dominates in only two of five characteristic bias intervals. The two other phenomena, also related to the geometrical factor, i.e. the diffusion-drift and tunneling currents, dominate the conduction over practically the whole dc-bias range. These results allow the study of short and long range electrical interactions as well as the free carrier micromovement of simple and complex semiconductor interfaces of multilayer devices.

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