Charge transport mechanisms of graphene/semiconductor Schottky barriers: A theoretical and experimental study

Graphene has been proposed as a material for semiconductor electronic and optoelectronic devices. Understanding the charge transport mechanisms of graphene/semiconductor Schottky barriers will be crucial for future applications. Here, we report a theoretical model to describe the transport mechanisms at the interface of graphene and semiconductors based on conventional semiconductor Schottky theory and a floating Fermi level of graphene. The contact barrier heights can be estimated through this model and be close to the values obtained from the experiments, which are lower than those of the metal/semiconductor contacts. A detailed analysis reveals that the barrier heights are as the function of the interface separations and dielectric constants, and are influenced by the interfacial states of semiconductors. Our calculations show how this behavior of lowering barrier heights arises from the Fermi level shift of graphene induced by the charge transfer owing to the unique linear electronic structure.