PtSi–n-Si(100) Schottky contacts have been studied by ballistic electron emission microscopy (BEEM) for PtSi layers from 30 to 195 Å thickness. Locally measured barrier heights were typically close to or above those determined from the diode I–V characteristics, with a tendency to higher barriers for the thinner silicide films. The ballistic transmission probability also showed local variations with a clear tendency to decrease for increasing PtSi layer thicknesses, which can be understood in terms of the mean free path of hot electrons in PtSi. From simultaneous measurements at several voltages over the same area, maps of the apparent barrier height and transmission rate have been obtained showing sometimes strong local variations of these quantities. Very low and very high apparent barriers that were occasionally observed seemed to show that the simple BEEM picture is not always applicable, possibly due to interface roughness.
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Niedermann et al. (1992) studied this question.