The Schottky Barrier Diode is different from the P/N silicon diode. Normal (P/N) diodes is formed by combining P-type and N-type semiconductors together in close contact.

Schottky barrier diodes are constructed from metal to form a semiconductor contact.

As the metal and semiconductor are brought together, a layer of potential barrier (Schottky Barrier) is formed on the connecting surface which has shown the identity of rectification.

The material of the semiconductor normally is a semiconductor of the N-type (occasionally the P-type) and the metallic material is usually chosen from various metals such as molybdenum, chromium, platinum or tungsten. We connected the two materials through Sputtering Techniques.

The Schottky Barrier Diode is the majority carrier device while the normal diode is the minority carrier device.

The Schottky Barrier Diode does not suffer from minority carrier storage problems since it can turn to circuit breakage in a very short time.

The reverse recovery time Trr of the Schottky Barrier Diode is shorter than 10nS which is faster than any p-n junction diode.

They also tend to have much lower junction capacitance than with P/N diodes. The forward voltage bias of the Schottky Barrier Diode is under 0.6 V, it is much lower than normal diodes (about 1.1 V). It is an ideal diode such as with an ampere limited current PN interface.

It shows that the efficiency gap standard between the two is wide. Normally, the PIV of the Schottky Barrier Diode is much smaller than with the P/N Diode.

For the same unit, the PIV of the Schottky Barrier Diode is about 50V while the P/N Diode could be as high as 150V.

Another remarkable advantage of the Schottky Barrier Diode is an extremely low noise figure, this is very important for a Communications Receiver, the working scope may reach 20 GHz.

Due to the fast switching-over speed of the Schottky Barrier Diode, its electric connecting voltage is lower than others and the noise figure is also extremely low.

It is an ideal diode.

It is popularly used in supplementary interchange power. Therefore, it has been broadly applied in switched power supplies used in electronic circuits, positioning and wave carrier networks, calculation gates, mixed frequency and wave detecting networks and loop protection… etc. The following are the examples of application: plant automation, personal computers, monitors, printers, hard discs, fax machines, exchangers, security equipment, alarm systems, radios, inverters, alternative changers, battery chargers, various types of motors, mixed integrated circuits, CD ROMs, scanners, modems, HVAC, translators, DC-DC current transformers, AC-DC current transformers, vehicle hi-fi sets, CDs, wireless telephones, devices, mobile phones, sphygmomanometers, digital cameras, electronic games and electric razors… etc.