Effect of Surface Area on the Electronic Parameters of Vacuum Deposited Bismuth-Silicon Junctions

The study investigates the effects of surface area on the electronic parameters of bismuthsilicon junctions at room temperature. The desired samples were obtained using vacuum deposition technique. Electrical characteristics of the samples were carried out at electric field value 10 - 60V/m. The surface conductance, ideality factor and barrier height of the samples were determined at different surface areas. The result of the study showed that the surface areas of the junctions have effects on the surface conductance while the values of the ideality factor and the barrier height had no significant dependence on the surface area of the junctions. In addition, the values of the ideality factor range between 0.70 - 0.83, an indication that the junctions are close to being ideal. This also stresses the fact that vacuum deposition is an ideal method for making metal-semiconductor junctions.