Semi-insulating 4H-SiC Research Articles

Analysis of intensity dependent near-bandedge absorption in semi-insulating 4H–SiC for photoconductive switch applications

We report on the intensity-dependent behavior of the absorption coefficient (α) in semi-insulating 4H–SiC material. Data from as-received samples show a monotonic decrease in α with incident energy density, with a pronounced change in slope at around 10 mJ cm−2. Annealed samples, on the other hand, exhibit an experimental trend of increasing α with intensity. Qualitative explanation of the observed behavior is presented that probes the possible role of spontaneous and stimulated emission for as-received samples. With annealing, trap related recombination is strongly reduced leading to higher carrier densities and increased free-carrier absorption with incident intensity. The role of band-filling and permittivity changes are shown to be inconsequential, while changes in internal fields could contribute to decreases in absorption.

Design and Fabrication of Silicon-on-Silicon-Carbide Substrates and Power Devices for Space Applications

A new generation of power electronic semiconductor devices are being developed for the benefit of space and terrestrial harsh-environment applications. 200-600 V lateral transistors and diodes are being fabricated in a thin layer of silicon (Si) wafer bonded to silicon carbide (SiC). This novel silicon-on-silicon-carbide (Si/SiC) substrate solution promises to combine the benefits of silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology (i.e device confinement, radiation tolerance, high and low temperature performance) with that of SiC (i.e. high thermal conductivity, radiation hardness, high temperature performance). Details of a process are given that produces thin films of silicon 1, 2 and 5 μm thick on semi-insulating 4H-SiC. Simulations of the hybrid Si/SiC substrate show that the high thermal conductivity of the SiC offers a junction-to-case temperature ca. 4× less that an equivalent SOI device; reducing the effects of self-heating, and allowing much greater power density. Extensive electrical simulations are used to optimise a 600 V laterally diffused metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (LDMOSFET) implemented entirely within the silicon thin film, and highlight the differences between Si/SiC and SOI solutions.

Effect of microstructures on electrical conduction properties of β-FeSi2 epitaxial films

We investigated the carrier concentration and Hall mobility of epitaxial β-FeSi2 films grown on semi-insulating 4H-SiC(001) single crystals to clarify the contribution of the microstructures to their electrical conduction properties. These electrical conduction properties of epitaxial β-FeSi2 films were changed by their grain size. The Hall mobility of the films consisting of the grains of 250–350nm in size was limited by the grain boundaries, while it was not limited by grain boundaries for the films consisting of the coarse grains of 20–40µm in size but limited by defects inside the grains.

Mg-compensation effect in GaN buffer layer for AlGaN/GaN high-electron-mobility transistors grown on 4H-SiC substrate

The present study investigated the Mg doping effect in the gallium nitride (GaN) buffer layers (BLs) of AlGaN/GaN high-electron-mobility transistor (HEMT) structures grown on semi-insulating 4H-SiC substrates by metal organic chemical vapor deposition. When the Mg concentration was increased from 3 × 1017 to 8 × 1018 cm−3, the crystal quality slightly deteriorated, whereas electrical properties were significantly changed. The buffer leakage increased approximately 50 times from 0.77 to 39.2 nA at −50 V with the Mg doping concentration. The Mg-compensation effect and electron trapping effect were observed at Mg concentration of 3 × 1017 and 8 × 1018 cm−3, respectively, which were confirmed by an isolation leakage current test and low-temperature photoluminescence. When the BL was compensated, the two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) mobility and sheet carrier concentration of the HEMTs were 1560 cm2 V−1 s−1 and 5.06 × 1012 cm−2, respectively. As a result, Mg-doped GaN BLs were demonstrated as a candidates of semi-insulating BLs for AlGaN/GaN HEMT.

Semi-insulating 4H-SiC layers formed by the implantation of high-energy (53 MeV) argon ions into n-type epitaxial films

It is shown that 9-μm-thick semi-insulating surface layers can be formed in moderately doped n-type silicon carbide (donor concentration 2 × 1016 cm–3) via the comparatively low-dose (7 × 1011 cm–2) implantation of high-energy (53 MeV) argon ions. The free-carrier removal rate is estimated at ~104 cm–1. The resistivity of the semi-insulator is no less than 7 × 1012 Ω cm. Analysis of the monopolar current of electron injection into the semi-insulator shows that the impurity-conductivity compensation is due to radiationinduced defects pinning the equilibrium Fermi level at a depth of 1.16 eV below the conduction-band bottom. The density of defect states at the Fermi level is 2.7 × 1016 cm2 eV–1.

Fabrication of Ohmic contact on semi-insulating 4H-SiC substrate by laser thermal annealing

The Ni contact layer was deposited on semi-insulating 4H-SiC substrate by magnetron sputtering. The as-deposited samples were treated by rapid thermal annealing (RTA) and KrF excimer laser thermal annealing (LTA), respectively. The RTA annealed sample is rectifying while the LTA sample is Ohmic. The specific contact resistance (ρc) is 1.97 × 10−3 Ω·cm2, which was determined by the circular transmission line model. High resolution transmission electron microscopy morphologies and selected area electron diffraction patterns demonstrate that the 3C-SiC transition zone is formed in the near-interface region of the SiC after the as-deposited sample is treated by LTA, which is responsible for the Ohmic contact formation in the semi-insulating 4H-SiC.

Low-noise epitaxial graphene on SiC Hall effect element for commercial applications

In this report, we demonstrate a complete Hall effect element that is based on quasi-free-standing monolayer graphene synthesized on a semi-insulating on-axis Si-terminated 6H-SiC substrate in an epitaxial Chemical Vapor Deposition process. The device offers the current-mode sensitivity of 87 V/AT and low excess noise (Hooge's parameter αH < 2 × 10−3) enabling room-temperature magnetic resolution of 650 nT/Hz0.5 at 10 Hz, 95 nT/Hz0.5 at 1 kHz, and 14 nT/Hz0.5 at 100 kHz at the total active area of 0.1275 mm2. The element is passivated with a silicone encapsulant to ensure its electrical stability and environmental resistance. Its processing cycle is suitable for large-scale commercial production and it is available in large quantities through a single growth run on an up to 4-in SiC wafer.

ESR Study on Hydrogen Passivation of Intrinsic Defects in p-Type and Semi-Insulating 4H-SiC

We studied the hydrogen passivation/depassivation of four types of intrinsic defects (EI5/6, HEI7/8, HEI9/10, and P6/7) in p-type and semi-insulating 4H-SiC by means of electron spin resonance (ESR) for examining the origin of career-lifetime-killing defects. We suggest that the HEI7/8 and P6/7 centers are the strongest candidate for the origin of the lifetime-killing defects.

Thermal Stability of Deep-Level Defects in High-Purity Semi-Insulating 4H-SiC Substrate Studied by Admittance Spectroscopy

Effects of high temperature treatments on the deep-level defects in high-purity semi-insulating substrates are studied by employing electrical and chemical analyses. Thermal admittance spectroscopy reveals the presence of a deep-level defect, labeled XMID, with a state near the middle of the bandgap, playing a decisive role to realize the semi-insulating characteristics. The concentration of the XMID level decreases with increasing treatment temperature from 1400 to 1700 °C, and consequently, the substrate becomes more conductive toward p-type due to residual boron impurities. The identity of XMID is yet to be known but the carbon vacancy is briefly discussed as a possible candidate.

Polytype Stabilization of High-purity Semi-insulating 4H-SiC Crystal via the PVT Method

Because the conditions under which semi-insulating 4H-SiC crystals can grow are so specific, other polytypes such as 15R and 6H can easily emerge during the growth process. In this work, a polytype stabilization technology was developed by altering the following parameters: growth temperature, temperature field distribution, and C/Si ratio. In the growth process of high-purity semi-insulating 4H-SiC crystals, the generation of undesirable polytypes was prevented, and a crystal 100 % 4H-SiC polytype was obtained. A high C/Si ratio in powder source was shown to be advantageous for the stabilization of the 4H polytype. Several methods were applied to evaluate the quality of crystals precisely; these methods include Raman mapping, X-ray diffraction, and resistivity mapping. Results showed that the 3inch-wafer was entirely made of 4H polytype, the mean value of FWHM was approximately 40 arcsec, and the distribution of the resistivity value was between 106 Ω×cm and 107 Ω×cm.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.ms.22.2.12914

Spectral broadening induced by intense ultra-short pulse in 4H–SiC crystals**Project supported by the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2014AA041402) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 51272276 and 51322211).

We report the observation of spectral broadening induced by 200 femtosecond laser pulses with the repetition rate of 1 kHz at the wavelength of 532 nm in semi-insulating 4H–SiC single crystals. It is demonstrated that the full width at half maximum of output spectrum increases linearly with the light propagation length and the peak power density, reaching a maximum 870 cm−1 on a crystal of 19 mm long under an incident laser with a peak power density of 60.1 GW/cm2. Such spectral broadening can be well explained by the self-phase modulation model which correlates time-dependent phase change of pulses to intensity-dependent refractive index. The nonlinear refractive index n2 is estimated to be 1.88×10−15 cm2/W. The intensity-dependent refractive index is probably due to both the nonlinear optical polarizability of the bound electrons and the increase of free electrons induced by the two-photon absorption process. Super continuum spectra could arise as crystals are long enough to induce the self-focusing effect. The results show that SiC crystals may find applications in spectral broadening of high power lasers.

Deep Traps in AlGaN/GaN High Electron Mobility Transistors on SiC

Capacitance-voltage (C-V) and current-voltage (I-V) characteristics and deep trap spectra were measured for high-power HEMT structures grown by metallorganic chemical vapor deposition on semi-insulating 4H-SiC substrates and comprised of an AlGaN barrier and GaN(Fe) semi-insulating buffer with the upper (∼100 nm) portion unintentionally doped and lightly n-type. The C-V measurements were performed in the 85–400 K range in the dark and showed a decrease in the threshold voltage for temperatures higher than 200 K. The change was most prominent for temperatures from 290 K to ∼330 K and occured due to deep traps capturing electrons in the AlGaN barrier and near the AlGaN/GaN interface. C-V measurements at low temperature showed that the traps in the AlGaN barrier are located near Ec−2 eV and have a density of ∼1012 cm−2, while the traps at the interface have an optical ionization threshold near 1.7 eV and the density of ∼4 × 1012 cm−2. Capacitance deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) and current DLTS (CDLTS) revealed electron traps with levels near Ec−0.56 eV and hole traps with levels near Ev+0.9 eV and Ev+0.5 eV. The Ec−0.56 eV traps are known to be located near the AlGaN/GaN interface in the GaN buffer. The Ev+0.9 eV hole traps are located in the buffer.

Analysis of high field effects on the steady-state current-voltage response of semi-insulating 4H-SiC for photoconductive switch applications

A model-based analysis of the steady-state, current-voltage response of semi-insulating 4H-SiC is carried out to probe the internal mechanisms, focusing on electric field driven effects. Relevant physical processes, such as multiple defects, repulsive potential barriers to electron trapping, band-to-trap impact ionization, and field-dependent detrapping, are comprehensively included. Results of our model match the available experimental data fairly well over orders of magnitude variation in the current density. A number of important parameters are also extracted in the process through comparisons with available data. Finally, based on our analysis, the possible presence of holes in the samples can be discounted up to applied fields as high as ∼275 kV/cm.

High temperature annealing effects on deep-level defects in a high purity semi-insulating 4H-SiC substrate

Effects of high-temperature annealing on deep-level defects in a high-purity semi-insulating 4H silicon carbide substrate have been studied by employing current-voltage, capacitance-voltage, junction spectroscopy, and chemical impurity analysis measurements. Secondary ion mass spectrometry data reveal that the substrate contains boron with concentration in the mid 1015 cm−3 range, while other impurities including nitrogen, aluminum, titanium, vanadium and chromium are below their detection limits (typically ∼1014 cm−3). Schottky barrier diodes fabricated on substrates annealed at 1400–1700 °C exhibit metal/p-type semiconductor behavior with a current rectification of up to 8 orders of magnitude at bias voltages of ±3 V. With increasing annealing temperature, the series resistance of the Schottky barrier diodes decreases, and the net acceptor concentration in the substrates increases approaching the chemical boron content. Admittance spectroscopy results unveil the presence of shallow boron acceptors and deep-level defects with levels in lower half of the bandgap. After the 1400 °C annealing, the boron acceptor still remains strongly compensated at room temperature by deep donor-like levels located close to mid-gap. However, the latter decrease in concentration with increasing annealing temperature and after 1700 °C, the boron acceptor is essentially uncompensated. Hence, the deep donors are decisive for the semi-insulating properties of the substrates, and their thermal evolution limits the thermal budget for device processing. The origin of the deep donors is not well-established, but substantial evidence supporting an assignment to carbon vacancies is presented.

RHEED Study of Epitaxial Graphene on Conductive and Semi-Insulating 6H-SiC (0001) Substrates

The technique of reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED) has been applied to study the graphene growth on conductive and semi-insulating 6H-SiC (0001) substrates using two RHEED devices. It was found the oriented growth of graphene on the conductive wafer and both oriented as disordered graphene growth on semi-insulating wafer due to the partial formation of polycrystalline component in nanocarbon film. It was shown that the appearance of the graphene polycrystalline phase was caused by the lower perfection structure of the surface of the semi-insulating substrate as compared to the conductive substrate.

Ion Implanted Lateral p<sup>+</sup>-i-n<sup>+</sup> Diodes on HPSI 4H-SiC

Square shaped annular lateral p+–i–n+ diodes on high purity semi-insulating (HPSI) 4H-SiC are fabricated by Al+ and P+ ion implantation to obtain anode and cathode regions, respectively. All the diodes have the same size central anode surrounded by an intrinsic region, which is surrounded by an annular cathode. Anode area and annular cathode width are fixed for all diodes, only the lateral length of the intrinsic region is varied. Post implantation annealing is performed at 1950 °C for 10 min. Static forward and reverse characteristics are measured in the temperature range of 30 - 290 °C. For all diodes, the reverse current is below the instrument detection limit of 10-14 A up to 100 °C at 200 V, the maximum reverse bias employed in this study. The reverse current increased up to low 108 A for 200 V reverse bias at 290 °C. Forward currents overlap at the low voltage region once they exceed the instrument detection limit at ~1.6 V and 30 °C. The forward currents follow almost identical exponential trend at all measured temperatures while the diode series resistance increase with increasing anode-cathode distance and decreased with increasing temperature for the given intrinsic region lateral length.

High Power Lateral Silicon Carbide Photoconductive Semiconductor Switches and Investigation of Degradation Mechanisms

Several generations of high power, lateral, linear mode, intrinsically triggered 4H-SiC photoconductive semiconductor switch designs and their performance are presented. These switches were fabricated from high purity semi-insulating 4H-SiC samples measuring 12.7 mm × 12.7 mm × 0.36 mm and were able to block dc electric fields up to 370 kV/cm with leakage currents less than 10 μA without failure. Switching voltages and current s up to 26 kV and 450 A were achieved with these devices and ON-state resistances of 2 Ω were achieved with 1 mJ of 355 nm laser energy (7 ns FWHM). After fewer than 100 high power switching cycles, these devices exhibited cracks near the metal/SiC interface. Experimental and simulation results investigating the root cause of this failure mechanism are also presented. These results strongly suggest that a transient spike in the magnitude of the electric field at the metal/SiC interface during both switch closing and opening is the dominant cause of the observed cracking.

Effects of reaction temperature on the synthesis of high purity silicon carbide powder

High purity silicon carbide powder for growing semi-insulating silicon carbide single crystal was synthesised using high purity carbon and silicon powder. The effects of reaction temperature on the phase composition, particle size and the production yield were discussed. The results showed that with increasing the reaction temperature, the phase transition from β-silicon carbide to α-silicon carbide was found. Moreover, the particle size and the production yield were first increased with raising the reaction temperature and then decreased when the temperature was higher. The results of glow discharge mass spectroscopy indicated that the synthesised silicon carbide powder can meet the requirements for semi-insulating silicon carbide single crystal growth. Finally, the semi-insulating 4H-SiC single crystals were grown using silicon carbide powder which was synthesised in our laboratory.

Electron diffraction study of graphene layers structure on conductive and semi-insulating 6H-SIC(0001) substrates

Electron diffraction study of graphene layers structure on conductive and semi-insulating 6H-SIC(0001) substrates

Acquisition and Research of the p-3C-SiC Epitaxial Layers Based on the 6H-SiC Semi-Insulating Substrates

By now we know almost nothing about works on production of p-3C-SiC. Probably, it is due to the fact that the basic acceptor impurity (aluminium) accumulates on the interfaces of the twins and other structural defects in the 3C film and it is electrically neutral. We managed to produce the highly doped layers p-3C based on the conducting substrates of hexagonal SiC using the method of Sublimation Epitaxy (SE). Probably, it is due to the growth high temperature used in this method. First, it results in production of the more structural-perfect epifilm and, second, in increasing the Al atomic mobility. This works purpose is further optimization of the production technology for epilayers p-3C-SiC with usage of semi-insulating substrates 6H-SiC.