Carrier concentration and lattice absorption in bulk and epitaxial silicon carbide determined using infrared ellipsometry

Abstract

We have measured the dielectric function of bulk nitrogen-doped 4H and 6H SiC substrates from 700 to 4000 ${\mathrm{cm}}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}1}$ using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopic ellipsometry. Photon absorption by transverse optical phonons produces a strong reststrahlen band between 797 and 1000 ${\mathrm{cm}}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}1}$ with the effects of phonon anisotropy being observed in the region of the longitudinal phonon energy (960 to 100 ${\mathrm{cm}}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}1}$). The shape of this band is influenced by plasma oscillations of free electrons, which we describe with a classical Drude equation. For the 6H-SiC samples, we modify the Drude equation to account for the strong effective mass anisotropy. Detailed numerical regression analysis yields the free-electron concentrations, which range from $7\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{17}$ to ${10}^{19}{\mathrm{cm}}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}3},$ in good agreement with electrical and secondary ion mass spectrometry measurements. Finally, we observe the Berreman effect near the longitudinal optical phonon energy in $n\ensuremath{-}/n+$ homoepitaxial 4H SiC and hydrogen implanted samples, and we are able to determine the thickness of these surface layers.