Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 February 2011
The clear dependence of the Schottky barrier height (SBH) on the structure of a metalsemiconductor (MS) interface is described for a few high-quality epitaxial MS systems. Polycrystalline MS interfaces, for which such a dependence is often absent, are shown to display clear evidence for SBH inhomogeneity, in direct conflict with the Fermi level (FL) pinning concept they helped to create. Recent theoretical calculations show that many basic tenets of the interface state pinning models are unfounded. The redistribution of charge as a result of bonding at the MS interface seems to be the most important contribution to the interface dipole and, hence, the SBH.