This lower forward voltage requirement allows higher switching speeds and better system efficiency.

This can be used for the simultaneous formation of ohmic contacts and diodes, as a diode will form between the silicide and lightly doped n-type region, and an ohmic contact will form between the silicide and the heavily doped n- or p-type region.

Lightly doped p-type regions pose a problem, as the resulting contact has too high a resistance for a good ohmic contact, but too low a forward voltage and too high a reverse leakage to make a good diode.

As the edges of the Schottky contact are fairly sharp, a high electric field occurs around them, which limits how large the reverse breakdown voltage threshold can be.

However, it serves as a distributed ballasting resistor over the entire area of the junction and, under usual conditions, prevents localized thermal runaway.

[3] Schottky diodes are significantly faster since they are unipolar devices and their speed is only limited by the junction capacitance.

With p–n-junction switching, there is also a reverse recovery current, which in high-power semiconductors brings increased EMI noise.

In higher voltage Schottky devices, in particular, the guard ring structure needed to control breakdown field geometry creates a parasitic p–n diode with the usual recovery time attributes.

The majority carriers are quickly injected into the conduction band of the metal contact on the other side of the diode to become free moving electrons.

Small-area Schottky diodes are the heart of RF detectors and mixers, which often operate at frequencies up to 50 GHz.

With special packaging, silicon carbide Schottky diodes can operate at junction temperatures of over 500 K (about 200 °C), which allows passive radiative cooling in aerospace applications.

The Schottky diode's low forward voltage drop is good for energy-efficient applications, because little energy is wasted to heat.

This makes them useful as blocking diodes in stand-alone ("off-grid") photovoltaic (PV) systems which prevent batteries from discharging through the solar panels at night.

They can also be used in power supply "OR"ing circuits in products that have both an internal battery and a mains adapter input, or similar.

This allows them to switch more quickly than regular diodes, resulting in lower transition time from the sample to the hold step.

When less power dissipation is desired, a MOSFET and a control circuit can be used instead, in an operation mode known as active rectification.

Electrowetting can be observed when a Schottky diode is formed using a droplet of liquid metal, e.g. mercury, in contact with a semiconductor, e.g. silicon.