Techniques which were widely used for the deposition of metals onto semiconductors (electron-beam evaporation, sputter deposition) were considered. It was found that both of these deposition techniques created damage at, and below, the semiconductor surface. Current-voltage and capacitance-voltage measurements were used to evaluate electron-beam and sputter-deposited Schottky barrier diodes, and these properties were compared with those of resistively deposited contacts. By using deep-level transient spectroscopy and energy-resolved deep-level transient spectroscopy, the defects which were introduced by using these 2 deposition techniques were characterized. The concentrations of some of these defects depended upon the semiconductor free-carrier density. A direct relationship was found between the defect concentration and the deterioration of current-voltage characteristics.

S.A.Goodman, F.D.Auret, G.Myburg, C.Schutte: Solid State Phenomena, 1996, 47-48, 391-6