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Abstract

We present a comprehensive study on the growth morphology, the electrical and magnetic transport properties of thin iron (Fe) film on p-Si(100) substrate. The structural analysis revealed the growth of an amorphous Fe film, with low crystalline ordering and granular structure. The resistivity of the film was observed to deviate from the usual metallic behavior at lower temperature revealing a tunneling type conductance. This was also reflected in the magnetoresistance measurement of the film. The film show high positive (negative) magnetoresistance at all temperatures (below 10 K) on application of out-of-plane (in-plane) magnetic field. The current-voltage (I-V) measurement of Fe/p-Si Schottky heterojunction exhibits good rectifying property. The ideality factor (n) and Schottky barrier height (fb) of the device, at room temperature, were obtained from fitting the I-V curves. The carrier concentration of the semiconductor substrate was evaluated from the capacitance-voltage (C-V) measurements. From the measurements large deviation from the ideal value of the diode parameters was observed. All the results thus obtained show a strong correlation between the stress and the transport measurements.