Bias-Temperature-Stress Induced Mobility Improvement in 4H-SiC MOSFETs

Abstract

ABSTRACTIn this work, we report on an instability which affects the field effect mobility in 4HSiC MOSFETs. The devices (MOSFETs and capacitors) were subjected to a biastemperature stress (BTS) for 30 minutes at 150°C at stress voltages corresponding to oxide fields upto 1MV/cm. Following a positive BTS(i.e. gate voltage positive), the field effect mobility increased by upto two orders of magnitude from the original value; upon application of a negative BTS to the MOSFET, the device characteristics degraded to the unstressed state. The high mobility state could be recovered by a positive BTS and was reversible with repeated bias stressing. An explanation of this phenomenon is proposed based on the effect of interfacial ions on the dependence of both trapped charge and inversion charge densities on gate bias.