Effects of electric polarization and defect energy levels induced by ion irradiation on the electrical behavior of 4H-SiC Schottky barrier diodes

Abstract The effects of electric polarization and defect energy levels induced by C 4+ irradiation on the electrical behavior of 4H-SiC Schottky barrier diodes (SBDs) are discussed. The parameters of the SBDs were extracted from capacitance–voltage (C–V) and current–voltage (I–V) measurements, the deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) was used to identify defect energy levels. In addition, the dielectric function and energy band structure of 4H-SiC were calculated using a first-principles approach to verify the enhancement of polarization and the origin of the defect energy levels. The results show that the net (donor) carrier concentration ( N d ) increases with the increase of irradiation fluence, which is caused by the competition between irradiation-induced defects and the polarization effect. On the one hand, Z 1/2 is determined by DLTS. It is related to the doubly negatively (2-|0) charged state of V c (carbon vacancy), which is a double acceptor. The intensity of the Z 1/2 peak increases with increasing irradiation fluence, which means that the defects caused by irradiation should reduce the N d . On the other hand, the polarization effect does exist and it becomes stronger with the increase in the irradiation fluence, which makes the N d increase. Obviously, the polarization effect induced by the irradiation is dominant for N d when the depth of ion penetration is in the shallow layer behind the metal–semiconductor (M–S) interface. Irradiation induced electron traps and an uneven distribution of positively charged centers, which can cause ln( I )- V to exhibit a non-linear component before reaching the turn-on voltage. The series resistance ( R s ), reverse current ( I R ) increase and the forward current decreases with the increase in irradiation fluence. All these show that the irradiation causes degradation of Ni/4H-SiC SBD performance.