Evidence for Poole–Frenkel conduction in individual SiC nanowires by field emission transport measurements

In this paper we examine carrier transport mechanisms in individual Silicon Carbide nanowires (NWs) by an original use of field emission (FE). Total energy distributions were measured as a function of temperature and extraction voltage allowing us to determine the voltage drops along the NWs and thus the temperature-dependent current-voltage (I-V-T) characteristics. The measurements were analyzed using different transport mechanisms of which only the Poole–Frenkel model gives an excellent fit. The dielectric constant was estimated for several samples at ɛ~10 in excellent agreement with the bulk value. The characteristic trap energies, Ea, were determined from the I-V-T data to be ∼0.3 eV. In general this work shows how FE can be used for transport measurements on individual semiconducting NWs.