Radiation Damage in SiC

Abstract

SiC has a band gap energy of about 2.9 ev; intrinsic SiC would be an excellent insulator at room temperature. In practice, the uncompensated room temperature resistivity of single crystal SiC rarely exceeds 100 Ω-cm. Information about radiation damage in SiC is scanty. Rates of charge carrier removal upon irradiation are similar to those found in Si. Most of the defects anneal at less than 8000C; within the operating range of some SiC devices. We have been interested principally in SiC p-n junctions, as rectifiers and as radiation detectors, and have studied their degradation in charged particle and neutron fluxes. Useful life is 1-100 times greater than can be achieved in comparable Si devices.