A varistor effect is detected during measurements of the current-voltage characteristics (CVC) of “metal-to-carbon film” contact junctions. Carbon films in such samples were grown using magnetron sputtering of graphite in an inert atmosphere onto metal substrates. Since the films exhibit temperature behavior of resistance characteristic of semiconductor materials, the result was a metal-semiconductor contact junction. Electrical measurements demonstrate nonlinear symmetrical CVC-characteristics of the junctions, typical for the varistor effect with low classification voltages and a small nonlinearity coefficient. Keywords: carbon films, metal-semiconductor contact junction, current-voltage characteristics, varistor effect.
Valerievich et al. (Fri,) studied this question.