Schottky barrier lowering with the formation of crystalline Er silicide   on n-Si upon thermal annealing
  The evolution of the Schottky barrier height (SBH) of Er silicide contacts to n-Si is investigated as a function of the annealing temperature. The SBH is found to drop substantially from 0.43 eV for the as-deposited sample to reach 0.28 eV, its lowest value, at 450 C. By x-ray diffraction, high resolution transmission electron microscopy, and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, the decrease in the SBH is shown to be associated with the progressive formation of crystalline ErSi2-x. 
Nicolas Reckinger, Xiaohui Tang Vincent Bayot, Dmitri A. Yarekha,   Emmanuel Dubois, Sylvie Godey, Xavier Wallart, Guilhem L...
cond-mat.mtrl-sci