Mechanical Manipulation of Silicon-based Schottky Diodes via Flexoelectricity

Silicon-based Schottky barrier diodes (SBDs), as a two-terminal circuit element, are widely used in modern industries due to its low cost and better compatibility with the complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology. Flexoelectricity resulting from strain gradient is a distinctive electromechanical coupling phenomenon compared to piezoelectricity resulting from strain. Flexoelectricity can exist in any dielectric due to the non-uniform strain breaking symmetry of materials. In this paper, we utilize the induced flexoelectric polarization to tune the behavior of a SBD made of metal and p-type Silicon. Making use of conductive atomic force microscopy (C-AFM), we measured current-voltage of the fabricated Si-based SBD under different tip forces. In order to conduct a quantitative study on the tuning effect of flexoelectricity on the performance of the fabricated Si-based SBD, we introduce an effective barrier height and provide a modified current equation according to the classical thermionic emission theory. The results show that flexoelectricity plays a significant role in dictating the Schottky barrier height, maximum rectified current (density), reverse saturation current (density), rectification ratio, and open voltage of the fabricated SBD. In addition, based on the Hertzian contact model and the measured data, the nonzero flexoelectric coefficients of the used p-type silicon are obtained. [Display omitted] •The behavior of SBDs made of non-polar semiconductors can be controlled with an applied force.•The effective barrier height and modified current equation of SBDs are introduced.•The flexoelectricity can improve the performance of SBDs.•The flexoelectric coefficients of a p-type silicon were evaluated.