In Situ Investigation of Current Transport Across Pt/n-Si (100) Schottky Junction During 100 $\hbox{MeV Ni}^{+7}$ Ion Irradiation

In situ current-voltage (
I
-
V
) analyses of Pt/n-Si (100) Schottky barrier (SB) diode are carried out during 100 MeV Ni
⁺⁷
ion beam irradiation. The effect of MeV ion beam on the electrical parameters like ideality factor (η) and SB height (SBH) (φ
_B
) of SB diode is investigated. For lower fluences, SBH decreases from its preradiation value, but there is almost no change in SBH for ion fluences ranging from 5×10
¹¹
to 1×10
¹³
ions/cm
²
. The reverse current is increased by about two orders of magnitude at the fluence of 5×10
¹³
ions/cm
²
which corresponds to an exposure of a few tens of years in low earth orbit. The radiation-induced diffusion of Schottky metal into the semiconductor and creation of trap centers at the metal-semiconductor interface are supposed to be the most plausible mechanisms for these deviations in SB diode characteristics.