Investigating the Temperature Dependence of Charge Carrier Lifetime in Low-Doped Epitaxial 4H-SiC Layers

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In this paper, the temperature dependence of charge carrier lifetimes in n-type 4H-SiC epitaxial layers is studied in a temperature range of 300-500 K. It is assumed that shallow (B) and deep (D) boron-related defects are the dominating lifetime killers in as-grown epitaxial layers. The thermodynamic behavior of these two types of defects is obtained from DLTS measurements, and implemented in the Shockley-Read-Hall (SRH) model to calculate lifetimes, using Gibbs free energies to describe the accurate temperature dependence for capture and emission processes of the defects. Calculation results show that the lifetimes controlled by shallow boron defects increase with increasing temperature, while D-defects give the opposite temperature dependence. The theoretical results are also compared to measured data from 10 kV 4H-SiC PiN-structures, showing that the temperature dependence of the effective lifetime can be changed by proton implantations, which gives rise to additional Z1/2 defects that have similar temperature effects on lifetimes as D-related defects.

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45-51

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May 2026

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