Interfacial Reaction and Schottky Barrier in Metal-Silicon Systems

Electronic states at the metal-silicon interface have previously been postulated in order to explain the pinning of the Fermi level, and the origin of these states has been a matter of some dispute. We propose here that in a reactive interface, such as the interface between Si and transition metals, physical properties of the interface are related to an interfacial layer, and that the relationship is manifest through the correlation between Schottky barrier height and eutectic temperature.