2006/01/31 by François Léonard, Francois Leonard, Leonard, Francois +2
Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #Graphene research and applications #Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci) #Semiconductor materials and interfaces #Surface and Thin Film Phenomena #cond-mat.mtrl-sci
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.cond-mat/0602003
arxiv created 2006/01/31 · openalex publication_date 2006/01/31 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Metal-semiconductor contacts play a key role in electronics. Here we show that for quasi-one-dimensional structures such as nanotubes and nanowires, side contact with the metal only leads to weak band re-alignement, in contrast to bulk metal-semiconductor contacts. Schottky barriers are much reduced compared with the bulk limit, and should facilitate the formation of good contacts. However, the conventional strategy of heavily doping the semiconductor to obtain ohmic contacts breaks down as the nanowire diameter is reduced. The issue of Fermi level pinning is also discussed, and it is demonstrated that the unique density of states of quasi-one-dimensional structures makes them less sensitive to this effect. Our results agree with recent experimental work, and should apply to a broad range of quasi-one-dimensional materials.