Valence band offset and Schottky barrier at amorphous boron and boron carbide interfaces with silicon and copper

In order to understand the fundamental charge transport in a-B:H and a-BX:H (X = C, N, P) compound heterostructure devices, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy has been utilized to determine the valence band offset and Schottky barrier present at amorphous boron compound interfaces formed with (1 0 0) Si and polished poly-crystalline Cu substrates. For interfaces formed by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition of a-B4–5C:H on (1 0 0) Si, relatively small valence band offsets of 0.2 ± 0.2 eV were determined. For a-B:H/Cu interfaces, a more significant Schottky barrier of 0.8 ± 0.16 eV was measured. These results are in contrast to those observed for a-BN:H and BP where more significant band discontinuities (>1–2 eV) were observed for interfaces with Si and Cu.