APPLICATION

The main features of a Schottky-barrier diode are high-frequency capability and low forward-voltage drop. These features plus the ease of fabrication make the device useful in a wide range of applications.

1. As a general purpose rectifier, it can be used in many circuit applications

2. Due to its high-frequency capability, among all rectifiers the Schottky barrier is the most widely used diode as microwave mixer and detector.

3. Due to its low loss (low voltage drop) in forward bias, it is used quite extensively in power electronics. In particular, it is used in low-voltage, high-current power supplies.

4. Due to the non-linear I-V characteristics, it can be used as a varistor

5. It can be used as a varactor based on the variation of depletion-layer capacitance under reverse bias

6. It is a fundamental building block for many other devices such as the solar cell, photodetector, metal-base transistor, MESFET, etc.

7. A special form of Schottky junction is the ohmic contact which is required to connect every semiconductor device to other devices or to the external environment.

8. In a clamped bipolar transistor, a Schottky diode is connected between the base and the collector. In the saturation regime of the transistor operation, the base-collector junction is under forward bias. When a Schottky diode is connected in parallel, most of the current passes through the Schottky device, and minority-carrier storage is eliminated in the base-collector p-n junction. As a result the turn-off time of the bipolar transistor is greatly reduced. It is also used as a clamping diode in integrated injection logic circuits and transistor-transistor logic circuits.

9. Due to the low temperature processing, a Schottky barrier is used as a tool for characterization of the semiconductor material, especially on surface properties.