Carrier Lifetime In 4H-SiC Epilayers Research Articles

Depth-Resolved Carrier Lifetime Measurements in 4H-SiC Epilayers Monitoring Carbon Vacancy Elimination

We address the key factors limiting charge carrier lifetime in 4H-SiC epilayers by demonstrating a viable method for eliminating carbon vacancy (VC) related Z1/2 lifetime killer sites and by introducing a novel approach in depth-resolved characterization of the carrier lifetimes across the epitaxial layer, which allows monitoring the efficacy of the proposed defect reduction scheme also exposing surface and interface recombination effects. We show that a moderate-temperature annealing conducted at 1500 °C for 6 hours under C-rich thermodynamic equilibrium conditions in effect eliminates carbon vacancies in epilayers to the levels below the detection limit (1011 cm-3) of DLTS measurements. The efficient reduction of VC-related Z1/2 sites upon thermal treatment is further proven by a significant increase of the minority carrier lifetime from 0.3µs to 1 µs, the upper limit apparently set by epilayer thickness dependent lifetime. Equally important is the extensive range of defect elimination as evidenced by consistently enhanced lifetime throughout entire 40 μm-thick epilayer, thus suggesting immediate practical implication as a lifetime control method suitable for variable thickness 4H-SiC epilayers.

Influence of Growth Temperature on Carrier Lifetime in 4H-SiC Epilayers

Carrier lifetime and formation of defects have been investigated as a function of growth temperature in n-type 4H-SiC epitaxial layers, grown by horizontal hot-wall CVD. Emphasis has been put on having fixed conditions except for the growth temperature, hence growth rate, doping and epilayer thickness were constant in all epilayers independent of growth temperature. An increasing growth temperature gave higher Z1/2 concentrations along with decreasing carrier lifetime. A correlation between growth temperature and D1 defect was also observed.

Temperature Dependence of the Carrier Lifetime in 4H-SiC Epilayers

The temperature dependence of the carrier lifetime was measured in n-type 4H-SiC epilayers of varying Z1/2 deep defect concentrations and layer thicknesses in order to investigate the recombination processes controlling the carrier lifetime in low- Z1/2 material. The results indicate that in more recently grown layers with lower deep defect concentrations, surface recombination tends to dominate over carrier capture by other bulk defects. Low-injection lifetime measurements were also found to provide a convenient method to assess the surface band bending and surface trap density in samples with a significant surface recombination rate.

Influence of structural defects on carrier lifetime in 4H-SiC epitaxial layers: Optical lifetime mapping

The influence of structural defects on carrier lifetime in 4H-SiC epilayers has been studied using high spatial resolution optically detected lifetime measurements. Full wafers mappings with 200 μm spatial resolution revealed the carrier lifetime variations that can be associated with structural defects replicated from the substrate and variations in the epitaxial growth conditions due to the susceptor design. High resolution mappings over smaller regions with lateral step size down to 20 μm, revealed local carrier lifetime reductions associated with different structural defects in the epitaxial layers. Identified defects that influence the carrier lifetime are the carrot defects and different types of in-grown stacking faults. Also clusters of threading screw dislocations in the epilayer probably originating from the dissociation of micropipe in the substrate are found to effectively reduce the carrier lifetime. Furthermore, optically detected lifetime mapping has been demonstrated as a nondestructive technique which allows nonvisible structural defects to be detected in as-grown epilayers.

Long Carrier Lifetime in 4H-SiC Epilayers Using Chlorinated Precursors

In this work we report the measurement of minority carrier lifetimes using the time resolved photoluminescence technique. It was found that 4H-SiC homo-epilayers grown using chlorine-based precursors have longer carrier lifetimes if used in conjunction with a tantalum carbide coated (TaC-coated) graphite susceptor rather than a SiC-coated graphite susceptor. Longer carrier lifetimes were obtained by optimal combinations of precursor gases and susceptor type. The controllable variation in lifetime from 250 ns to 9.9 s was demonstrated.

Investigation of carrier lifetime in 4H-SiC epilayers and lifetime control by electron irradiation

Carrier lifetimes in 4H-SiC epilayers are investigated by differential microwave photoconductivity decay measurements. When the Z1∕2 concentration is higher than 1013cm−3, the Z1∕2 center works as a recombination center. In this case, carrier lifetimes show positive dependence on the injection level (number of irradiated photons). On the other hand, other recombination processes such as surface recombination limit the lifetime when the Z1∕2 concentration is lower than 1013cm−3. In this case, carrier lifetimes have decreased by increasing the injection level. By controlling the Z1∕2 concentration by low-energy electron irradiation, the lifetime control has been achieved.

Reduction of traps and improvement of carrier lifetime in 4H-SiC epilayers by ion implantation

The authors report a significant reduction in deep level defects and improvement of carrier lifetime in 4H-SiC material after carrying out carbon or silicon ion implantation into the shallow surface layer of 250nm and subsequent annealing at 1600°C or higher temperature. Reduction of Z1∕2 and EH6∕7 traps from 3×1013cm−3 to below the detection limit (5×1011cm−3) was observed by deep level transient spectroscopy in the material 4μm underneath the implanted layer. Minority carrier lifetime almost doubled in the implanted samples compared to the unimplanted samples. The authors propose that the implanted layer acts as a source of carbon interstitials which indiffuse during annealing and accelerate annealing out of grown-in defects in the layer underneath the implanted region.

Defects Limiting Minorty Carrier Lifetime in 4H-SiC Epilayers

The defects controlling carrier lifetime in 4H-SiC n- epilayers have been investigated by DLTS and time- resolved photoluminescence. Measurements of the dependence upon layer thickness enabled the separation of bulk and surface contributions to the measured lifetimes. Only the Z1/Z2 defect exhibited consistent correlation with measured lifetimes, while the EH6/EH7 defect was correlated only in some cases. The dependence upon layer thickness revealed a bulk minority carrier lifetime that was linearly related to the Z1/Z2 concentration and a hole capture cross-section of 3x10-14 cm2. This corresponded well to DLTS measurements carried out in p-i-n diode structures, where a large hole capture cross-section, sp, was indicated for Z1/Z2 and a small sp for EH6/EH7. Consequently, these results suggest that Z1/Z2 acts alone as the lifetime killer in this material.

Deep Traps and Charge Carrier Lifetimes in 4H-SiC Epilayers

Carrier lifetimes and the dominant electron and hole traps were investigated in a set of thick (9-104mm) undoped 4H-SiC epitaxial layers grown by CVD homoepitaxy. Deep trap spectra were measured by deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) with electrical or optical injection, while lifetimes were measured by room temperature time-resolved photoluminescence (PL). The main electron traps detected in all samples were due to Ti, Z1/Z2 centers, and EH6/EH7 centers. Two boron-related hole traps were observed with activation energies of 0.3 eV (boron acceptors) and 0.6 eV (boron-related D centers). The concentration of electron traps decreased with increasing layer thickness and increased toward the edge of the wafers. PL lifetimes were in the 400 ns-1800 ns range with varying injection and generally correlated with changes in the density of Z1/Z2 and to a lesser extent the EH6/EH7 electron traps. However, the results of DLTS measurements on p-i-n diode structures suggest that the capture of injected holes is much more efficient for the Z1/Z2 traps compared to the EH6/EH7 centers making the Z1/Z2 more probable candidates for the role of lifetime killers. A good fit of the thickness dependence of the measured lifetimes to the usual analytical form was obtained assuming that Z1/Z2 is the dominant hole recombination center and that the surface recombination velocity was 2500 cm/sec.

Defects Limiting Carrier Lifetime in 4H-SiC Epilayers

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