Title:Study on the Characteristics of Schottky Temperature Detector Based on Metal/n-ZnO/n-Si Structures
Volume: 13
Issue: 3
Author(s): Fang Wang, Jingkai Wei, Caixia Guo, Tao Ma, Linqing Zhang, Congxin Xia and Yufang Liu*
Affiliation:
- School of Physics, Henan Normal University, Xinxiang 453007,China
Keywords:
MEMS device, ZnO, Schottky structure, high temperature, large temperature range, high response sensitivity.
Abstract:
Background: At present, the main problems of Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS)
based temperature detector are the narrow range of temperature detection and difficulty in the measurement
of high temperature. Besides, MEMS devices have different response characteristics for various
surrounding temperature in the petrochemical and metallurgy application fields with hightemperature
and harsh conditions. To evaluate the performance stability of the high-temperature
MEMS devices, the real-time temperature measurement is necessary.
Objective: A Schottky temperature detector based on the metal/n-ZnO/n-Si structures is designed to
measure high temperature (523~873K) for MEMS devices with a large temperature range.
Methods: By using the Finite Element Method (FEM), three different work function metals (Cu, Ni
and Pt) contacting the n-ZnO were investigated to realize Schottky. At room temperature (298K) and
high temperature (523~873K), the current densities with various bias voltages (J-V) were studied.
Results: The simulation results show that the high-temperature response power consumption of three
Schottky detectors of Cu, Ni and Pt decreases successively, which is 1.16 mW, 63.63 μW and 0.14 μW.
The response temperature sensitivities of 6.35 μA/K, 0.78 μA/K, and 2.29 nA/K are achieved.
Conclusion: The Cu/n-ZnO/n-Si Schottky structure could be used as a high-temperature detector
(523~873K) for the high-temperature MEMS devices. It has a large temperature range (350K) and a
high response sensitivity of 6.35 μA/K. Compared with the traditional devices, the Cu/n-ZnO/n-Si
Schottky structure-based temperature detector has a low energy consumption of 1.16 mW, having potential
applications in the high-temperature measurement of the MEMS devices.