The role of molybdenum trioxide in the change of electrical properties of Cr/MoO3/n-Si heterojunction and electrical characterization of this device depending on temperature

Abstract In this study, the molybdenum trioxide as a chemical compound with the formula MoO3 was coated between chromium (Cr) metal and n-type semiconductor (n-Si) by thermal evaporation. Using this method, Cr/MoO3/n-Si/Al heterojunction was obtained. Using the thermionic emission (TE) theory, the ideality factor (n) for the reference Cr/n-Si/Al metal-semiconductor (MS) device was calculated as 1.88 and the barrier height (Φb) was calculated as 0.59 eV. On the other hand, the ideality factor for six (D1-D6) Cr/MoO3/n-Si/Al heterojunction obtained with MoO3 nanopowder was calculated between 1.61 and 1.69, and the barrier height was calculated as 0.69 eV, respectively. According to these results, MoO3 layer made the device's current transmission mechanism behave ideally and increased the barrier height. Current-voltage (I-V) measurements depending on temperature were performed for D1 named Cr/MoO3/n-Si/Al device, which provided the best results. Electrical parameters, such as n, Φb and series resistance (Rs), by the TE method, Cheung and Norde functions were calculated using I-V characteristic taken from the 100 K to 400 K temperature range. According to the results obtained, the values of n and Rs decreased and the barrier height increased in the heterojunction device due to the increase in the temperature value. When the results were evaluated, it was observed that the current transmission of the Cr/MoO3/n-Si/Al device was compatible with the applied temperature and a significant and regular change in the temperature-dependent I-V characteristics. This finding suggests that Cr/MoO3/n-Si/Al heterojunction obtained with MoO3 is a good option for thermal sensitivity applications.