Advances in the growth processes of 4H-SiC epitaxial layers have led to the continued expansion of epilayer thickness, allowing for the detection of more penetrative radioactive particles. We report the fabrication and characterization of high-resolution Schottky barrier radiation detectors on 250 μm thick n-type 4H-SiC epitaxial layers, the highest reported thickness to date. Several 8 × 8 mm2 detectors were fabricated from a diced 100 mm diameter 4H-SiC epitaxial wafer grown on a conductive 4H-SiC substrate with a mean micropipe density of 0.11 cm−2. From the Mott–Schottky plots, the effective doping concentration was found to be in the range (0.95–1.85) × 1014 cm−3, implying that full depletion could be achieved at ∼5.7 kV (0.5 MV/cm at the interface). The current-voltage characteristics demonstrated consistently low leakage current densities of 1–3 nA/cm2 at a reverse bias of −800 V. This resulted in the pulse-height spectra generated using a 241Am alpha source (5486 keV) manifesting an energy resolution of less than 0.5% full width at half maximum (FWHM) for all the detectors at −200 V. The charge collection efficiencies (CCEs) were measured to be 98–99% with no discernable correlation to the energy resolution. A drift-diffusion model fit to the variation of CCE as a function of bias voltage, revealed a minority carrier diffusion length of ∼10 μm. Deep level transient spectroscopy measurements on the best resolution detector revealed that the excellent performance was the result of having ultralow concentrations of the order of 1011 cm−3 lifetime limiting defects—Z1/2 and EH6/7.

Defect characterization and charge transport measurements in high-resolution Ni/n-4H-SiC Schottky barrier radiation detectors fabricated on 250 μm epitaxial layers

The current voltage characteristics and the low-frequency noise in high voltage 4H-SiC junction barrier Schottky diodes irradiated with high energy (15 MeV) protons were studied at different temperatures and irradiation doses Φ from 3 × 1012 cm−2 to 1 × 1014 cm−2. Irradiation led to the increase of the base resistance and the appearance of slow relaxation processes at small, V ≤ 0.2 V, and at rather high, V ≥ 2 V, forward voltages. The characteristic times of these relaxation processes ranged from ∼1 μs to 103 s. The exponential part of the current-voltage characteristic was only weakly affected by irradiation. The temperature dependence of the base resistance changed exponentially with temperature with activation energy Ea ∼ 0.6 eV, indicating that the Z1/2 level plays a dominant role in this process. The temperature increase also led to the increase of the ideality factor from 1.05 at 25 °C to 1.1 at 172 °C. At elevated temperatures and high forward voltages V > 2–4 V, the current voltage characteristic...

Electrical and noise properties of proton irradiated 4H-SiC Schottky diodes

Schottky barrier detectors (SBDs) require larger surface areas than conventional electronics to increase the detection efficiency although such SBDs manifest large diode ideality factors due to inhomogeneous areal distribution of surface barrier height (SBH). Inhomogeneous SBH distributions lead to various current flow mechanisms in SBDs, which need to be identified to optimize detector performance. In this Letter, we identify the current flow mechanism in large area Schottky barrier diodes for radiation detection fabricated on 150 μm thick n-4H–SiC epitaxial layers. The analysis of temperature-dependent forward current–voltage (I–V–T) characteristics of SBDs revealed two linear regions in current–voltage curves up to 450 K, one corresponding to the current flow through a low barrier patch, while the other corresponds to that of average barrier distribution. Applying a SBH distribution model to the reverse I–V–T characteristics, an activation energy of 0.76 eV for the current flow over the Schottky barrier was calculated. The activation energy did not directly correspond to any of the defect levels observed from the deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS). Above 450 K, a Schottky type barrier lowering suggested a current flow through a low barrier patch of ≈ 0.8 eV. The absence of any SBH lowering below 450 K indicated that the current corresponded to a neutrally charged trap level at ≈ 0.6 eV below the conduction band edge, which was consistent with DLTS measurements revealing the presence of an electron trap level Z1/2 at 0.59 eV below the conduction band edge.

Role of deep levels and barrier height lowering in current-flow mechanism in 150 μm thick epitaxial n-type 4H–SiC Schottky barrier radiation detectors

In this article, we demonstrate the radiation detection performance of vertical metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) capacitors fabricated on 20 μm thick n-4H-SiC epitaxial layers with the highest energy resolution ever reported. The 100 nm SiO2 layer was achieved on the Si face of n-4H-SiC epilayers using dry oxidation in air. The Ni/SiO2/n-4H-SiC MOS detectors not only demonstrated an excellent energy resolution of 0.42% ( ΔE/E×100) for 5.48 MeV alpha particles but also caused a lower enhancement in the electronic noise components of the spectrometer compared with that observed for the best high-resolution Schottky barrier detectors. The MOS detectors also exhibited a high charge collection efficiency (CCE) of 96% at the optimized operating bias despite the presence of the oxide layer. A drift-diffusion model applied to the CCE vs gate bias voltage data revealed a minority (hole) carrier diffusion length of 24 μm. Capacitance mode deep level transient spectroscopy (C-DLTS) scans in the temperature range 84–800 K were carried out to identify the resolution limiting electrically active defects. Interestingly, the C-DLTS spectra revealed both positive and negative peaks, indicating the simultaneous presence of electron (majority) and hole (minority) trap centers. It has been inferred that at the steady-state bias for the C-DLTS measurement, the MOS detector operates in the inversion mode at certain device temperatures, causing holes to populate the minority trap centers and, hence, manifests minority carrier peaks as well.

High-resolution radiation detection using Ni/SiO2/n-4H-SiC vertical metal-oxide-semiconductor capacitor

Electron and gamma irradiation effects on Al/n‒4H–SiC Schottky contacts

We report the results of the high energy (0.9 MeV) electron irradiation impact on the electrical properties of high voltage Ni/4H-SiC Schottky diodes. Within the range of the irradiation dose from 0.2 × 1016 cm−2 to 7 × 1016 cm−2, electron irradiation led to 6 orders of magnitude increase in the base resistance, appearance of slow relaxation processes at pico-ampere current range, and increase in the ideality factor.

Impact of high energy electron irradiation on high voltage Ni/4H-SiC Schottky diodes

The low-frequency noise in high voltage Ni/4H-SiC Schottky diodes irradiated with high energy (0.9 MeV) electrons was studied in the frequency range from 1 Hz to 50 kHz, temperature interval 295–410 K, and irradiation dose Φ from 0.2 × 1016 cm−2 to 7 × 1016 cm−2. The noise amplitude was found monotonically increasing with the irradiation dose. With the irradiation dose increase, the noise spectra on the linear part of the current voltage characteristic transform from the 1/f noise to the generation recombination noise of at least two trap levels. One of these levels can be classified as Z1/2 with the capture cross section determined from the noise measurements to be ∼10−15 cm2.

Effect of high energy electron irradiation on low frequency noise in 4H-SiC Schottky diodes

Electron irradiation of high voltage Ni/4H-SiC Schottky diodes with the dose Φ=(0.2-7)×1016cm-2 led to increase in the base resistance, appearance of slow relaxation processes at extremely small currents, and increase of the low frequency noise. On exponential part of the current-voltage characteristics and on linear part of current-voltage characteristics in non-irradiated samples, low frequency noise always has the form of the 1/f noise. On linear part of the current-voltage characteristics in irradiated diodes the generation recombination (GR) noise predominates. Temperature dependences of the base resistivity and character of GR noise indicate that mainly Z1/2 center contributes to the change in the parameters of irradiated samples. Capture cross section of this level, obtained from noise measurements, is within the range (8×10-16-2×10-15) cm2 and only weakly depends on temperature.

S. L. Rumyantsev

Papers

Impact of high energy electron irradiation on high voltage Ni/4H-SiC Schottky diodes

Electrical and noise properties of proton irradiated 4H-SiC Schottky diodes

Effect of high energy electron irradiation on low frequency noise in 4H-SiC Schottky diodes

Effect of High Energy Electron Irradiation on Electrical and Noise Properties of 4H-SiC Schottky Diodes