Schottky contacts to cleaved GaAs (110) surfaces. II. Thermodynamic aspects

Thermodynamic aspects of Schottky contact formation on cleaved GaAs (110) surfaces are examined. It is shown, for 18 different metals, that a simple binary-phase bulk thermodynamic model is a useful semi-quantitative guide to interfacial reactivity, provided both arsenide and gallium alloy formation are considered. Absence of reaction, reaction by arsenide formation alone, reaction by alloying alone and reaction by both arsenide and alloy formation are correctly predicted. In contrast, attempts to correlate any of the thermodynamic parameters, including the interface heat of reaction, with the Schottky barrier height were unsuccessful. © 1988 IOP Publishing Ltd.