Improved electrical properties of NO-nitrided SiC/SiO2 interface after electron irradiation**Project supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2016YFB0100601) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 61674169 and 61974159).

Abstract

Effective improvement in electrical properties of NO passivated SiC/SiO2 interface after being irradiated by electrons is demonstrated. The density of interface traps after being irradiated by 100-kGy electrons decreases by about one order of magnitude, specifically, from 3×1012 cm−2⋅eV−1 to 4×1011 cm−2⋅eV−1 at 0.2 eV below the conduction band of 4H-SiC without any degradation of electric breakdown field. Particularly, the results of x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurement show that the C–N bonds are generated near the interface after electron irradiation, indicating that the carbon-related defects are further reduced.