Investigation of 4H-SiC Schottky diodes by ion and X-ray micro beam induced charge collection techniques

Abstract

Silicon carbide has recently emerged as an attractive material for ionisation radiation detection. The high band gap and high radiation damage resistance should allow the fabrication of detectors capable to operate at high temperature and in high radiation fields. The development of SiC radiation detectors in the field of spectroscopy imposes severe constraints in the electronic quality and homogeneity of the material. In this work we present an investigation of the charge collection properties of ‘detector grade’ 4H-SiC Schottky diodes performed by means of the X-ray and ion beam induced charge collection (XBICC and IBIC) techniques. Such techniques allow the minority carrier diffusion length of the material to be evaluated and mapping of the transport properties to be performed with a spatial resolution of the order of 1 μm. The investigated detectors are formed by Schottky contact (Au) on the epitaxial layer and an ohmic contact on the back side of 4H-SiC substrates. IBIC measurements were performed using protons of energy 0.7–1.7 MeV. The IBIC spectra show a complete charge collection generated by ionisation in the depletion region. Similar analysis was also performed in steady state conditions using data from photocurrent measurements carried out at European Synchrotron Radiation Facility using 3 keV photons. IBIC and XBICC maps were obtained by recording the mean pulse height and the mean photocurrent as a function of the photon or ion impact co-ordinates. The analysis of such maps allowed us to individuate the spatial distribution of defects and contact imperfections.