Abstract
Interface nitridation in nitric oxide is a standard technique for improving the performance of silicon carbide (SiC) metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) devices. In this study, we focused on m-face SiC MOS structures and investigated the impact of nitridation by means of electrical measurements and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Gate leakage characteristics were measured in a wide temperature range of about −150 – 100 °C, which clarified that nitridation leads to an unwanted increase in the Fowler-Nordheim leakage current. Scanning XPS measurements revealed that the amount of nitrogen incorporated at the m-face MOS interface could reach about 2.3 times higher than the Si-face MOS interface. The incorporation of nitrogen likely reduces the conduction band offset at the SiO2/SiC interface, thereby increasing the gate leakage. This conclusion was further corroborated in an analysis of band alignment based on synchrotron radiation XPS measurements. Therefore, while nitrided m-face SiC MOS devices exhibit superior on-state performances, they have a limitation in terms of reliability.
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