Analysis of Schottky Barrier Heights of Metal/SiC Contacts and Its Possible Application to High-Voltage Rectifying Devices

Abstract

Schottky contacts of metal/3C-, 6H-, and 4H-SiC systems are investigated in this review. Most Schottky contacts having large barrier heights show good characteristics with low ideality factors. The barrier height depends on the metal work function without strong Fermi-level pinning for all polytypes, and linear relationships with slopes of about 0.2 to 0.7 are observed between the barrier height and the metal work function. Based on the analysis of metal/SiC systems, the fabrication of high-voltage rectifiers has been reported, and high voltages from 400 to 1100 V have been achieved using Pt/, Ti/, and Au/6H-SiC structures. In addition, high-temperature operation at 400 °C is performed for an Au/6H-SiC structure while supporting a high reverse bias (460 V). Using Ti/4H-SiC structures, high-voltage (≈1000 V) and low-power loss characteristics are realized, which is superior to Ti/6H-SiC Schottky rectifiers. To improve the reverse bias characteristics, an edge termination technique is employed for Ti/4H-SiC Schottky rectifiers, and the devices show excellent characteristics with a higher blocking voltage up to 1750 V compared with unterminated devices.