Research Information System
Nano Express, vol.6, no.2, 2025 (ESCI, Scopus)
The Schottky barrier diode is a unipolar electronic device formed by the heterojunction of a metal and a semiconductor, widely used in various electronic and optoelectronic applications. Its rectifying current-voltage characteristic is typically derived using thermionic emission theory, which describes the transport of carriers over the Schottky barrier formed at the metal-semiconductor interface. In this paper, after briefly reviewing the metal-semiconductor heterojunction fundamentals and Landauer’s approach to electric transport, we propose an alternative way to derive the current-voltage behavior of a Schottky diode using Landauer’s formalism. This derivation can be directly applied to Schottky contacts between metals and low-dimensional materials, as demonstrated in the case of a 2D material. Additionally, we extend the proposed approach to account for tunneling currents through the barrier. Finally, we validate our findings with experimental data from a commercial Schottky diode, demonstrating excellent agreement. We also discuss non-ideal effects such as image-force lowering and lateral inhomogeneity of the Schottky barrier. This paper thus proposes an accessible and modern approach to understanding the Schottky diode current-voltage characteristics, making it suitable for both graduate- and postgraduate-level instruction.