Schottky barriers and interface structure at silicide-silicon interfaces

Schottky barriers at metal-semiconductor interfaces have attracted much interest in recent years. One of the principal interests has centred on the mechanism for Fermi level pinning. The silicide-silicon interface has been proposed as a system which is described by the metal induced gap states model. We have performed calculations on the NiSi2/Si(111) type A and type B interfaces as well as the NiSi2/Si(100) interface. In addition we have also studied the CoSi2/Si interface. For the NiSi2/Si(111) interface, we have further investigated the influence of point defects and hydrostatic pressure on the Schottky barrier height. Based on the results of our calculations we conclude that these interfaces do indeed subscribe to the MIGS model. We also present the results of some total energy calculations and discuss these with experimental observations.