The organic compound 3,4,9,10-perylenetetracarboxylic dianhydride (PTCDA) has previously been observed to undergo a large increase in conductivity on irradiation with energetic particle beams. In this letter, we describe the electrical characteristics of novel rectifying junctions employing unirradiated PTCDA vapor deposited onto 10-Ω cm p-Si substrates. The PTCDA-Si contact barrier has a height of φB = 0.74 eV. The resulting diodes undergo avalanche breakdown at VB = 230 V, and exhibit current densities at 1/2 VB of ⩽50 μA/cm2. In addition, the forward current-voltage (IF−V) characteristics are strongly dependent on the contact metal used on the top PTCDA surface. The best results obtained were for diodes employing Ti contacts which gave nonhysteretic, stable IF-V characteristics with an ideality factor of n = 1.7. Several properties of the as-deposited PTCDA are also discussed. The rectifying characteristics reported here, coupled with the properties of irradiated PTCDA, suggest many unique device applications.
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