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arXiv · 1802.09543

Theory of thermionic emission from a two-dimensional conductor and its application to a graphene-semiconductor Schottky junction

Maxim Trushin
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Abstract

The standard theory of thermionic emission developed for three-dimensional semiconductors does not apply to two-dimensional materials even for making qualitative predictions because of the vanishing out-of-plane quasiparticle velocity. This study reveals the fundamental origin of the out-of-plane charge carrier motion in a two-dimensional conductor due to the finite quasiparticle lifetime and huge uncertainty of the out-of-plane momentum. The theory is applied to a Schottky junction between graphene and a bulk semiconductor to derive a thermionic constant, which, in contrast to the conventional Richardson constant, is determined by the Schottky barrier height and Fermi level in graphene.

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Maxim Trushin. 2018-05-02. Theory of thermionic emission from a two-dimensional conductor and its application to a graphene-semiconductor Schottky junction. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5027271

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