Materials Science Forum Vols. 600-603

Abstract: Anisotropic thermal etching of 4H-SiC {0001} and {11-20} substrates was studied in the mixed gas of chlorine (Cl2) and oxygen (O2) over 900oC. Etch pits appeared only on the (0001) Si face. Etching rates depended on the temperature, O2/Cl2 ratio, and an etching direction on the substrate surfaces. When the mesa structure was formed by the selective etching method, sloped sidewalls were observed around the periphery of the mesa. The angle of sidewalls depended on the orientation of substrates.

Abstract: To explain the growth rate enhancement of SiC oxidation in the thin oxide regime, which was recently found from the real time monitoring experiments of the initial oxidation stage of SiC (000–1) C-face using an in-situ spectroscopic ellipsometer, we tried to apply the interfacial Si emission model, which has been originally proposed for Si oxidation, and found that the Si emission model successfully reproduced the SiC oxidation rates at the whole range of oxide thickness and at oxidation temperatures measured. By comparing with the simulations for Si oxidation, we have discussed the oxidation mechanism of SiC.

Abstract: Real time observations of SiC (000–1) C-face and (0001) Si-face oxidation were performed using an in-situ ellipsometer over the oxygen-partial-pressure range from 0.1 to 1.0 atm. We analyzed the relations between oxide growth rate and oxide thickness by applying an empirical relation proposed by Massoud et al. We found the occurrence of oxidation enhancement in the thin oxide regime also for Si-face as well as for C-face. We have discussed the oxygen-partial-pressure dependence of the oxidation rate constants between SiC C- and Si face, comparing with that of Si.

Abstract: The SiO2/4H-SiC hetero-interface was observed using TEM in plan-view geometry. Local roughening of the SiO2/4H-SiC hetero-interface accompanied with local generation of basal-plane dislocations in SiC was observed. In some places, local variations in film thickness of SiO2 as well as the presence of extra carbon and particle-like contrast asociated with the generation of basal-plane dislocations in SiC was observed. The influence of these defect regions on MOSFET properties is discussed.

Abstract: 4H-SiC MOSFET on carbon face exhibits the high channel mobility when the gate oxide is formed by pyrogenic wet oxidation. However, this improvement is not proof against the metallization annealing which is indispensable in the fabrication of the SiC power MOSFETs. We develop the alternative metallization process suitable for the high channel mobility on the carbon face. The metallization annealing in hydrogen ambient has much effect to suppress the degradation of the channel mobility. The lateral MOSFET with the ohmic contact formed by hydrogen annealing exhibits the high channel mobility which is comparable to the channel mobility of the lateral MOSFET formed without metallization annealing.

Abstract: Deposited SiN/SiO2 stack gate structures have been investigated to improve the 4H-SiC MOS interface quality. Capacitance-voltage measurements on fabricated SiN/SiO2 stack gate MIS capacitors have indicated that the interface state density is reduced by post-deposition annealing in N2O at 1300°C. The usage of thin SiN and increase in N2O-annealing time lead to a low interface state density of 1×1011 cm-2eV-1 at EC – 0.2 eV. Oxidation of the SiN during N2O annealing has resulted in improvement of SiC MIS interface. The fabricated SiN/SiO2 stack gate MISFETs demonstrate a high channel mobility of 32 cm2/Vs on (0001)Si face and 40 cm2/Vs on (000-1)C face.

Abstract: 4H-SiC MOSFETs with Al2O3/SiC and Al2O3/SiOx/SiC gate structures have been fabricated and characterized. Al2O3 was deposited by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) and the SiOx layer was formed by dry-O2 oxidation. Insertion of 1.2 nm-thickness-SiOx layer drastically improves the channel mobility of Al2O3/SiC-MOSFET and anomalously high field effect mobility (μFE) of 284 cm2/Vs was obtained. The μFE of Al2O3/SiOx/SiC-MOSFET with various SiOx thickness was investigated, and it was found that insertion of a thin SiOx layer (< 2 nm) followed by the low temperature deposition of Al2O3 results in Al2O3/SiOx/SiC-MOSFET with such a high channel mobility.

Abstract: The improvement of the SiC-SiO2 interface has been the main focus of research in SiC MOSFET technology due to the presence of high density of interface traps (Dit) leading to poor threshold voltage temperature stability and poor mobility. In SiC MOSFETs with the gate oxide grown in the presence of sodium, known as sodium enhanced oxidation(SEO), a lower Dit and higher field effect mobility has been observed [1]. Hall effect measurements were performed from 125°K-225°K on such MOSFET samples. The Hall measurements were made as a function of temperature for various sheet charge concentrations. The sheet charge density was measured as a function of gate bias at 225°K and there is very little trapped charge in the sample with oxide grown by SEO while about 50 % of the total charge is trapped in a sample with N2O grown oxide annealed in NO. In samples with oxide grown by SEO, there is a monotonic increase in mobility with sheet charge density and the mobility also increases with temperature. This is an indication that the main scattering mechanism is Coulomb scattering in this regime.

Abstract: We studied the annealing process to improve the field-effect channel mobility (μFE) on the 4H-SiC (11-20) face. We found that wet annealing, in which a wet atmosphere was maintained during the cooling-down period to 600°C after wet oxidation, was effective. The interface states (Dit) near the conduction band edge decreased and the μFE increased up to 244 cm2/Vs. Furthermore, the origin of this high channel mobility was investigated using secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) measurement and thermal desorption spectroscopy (TDS) analysis. It was indicated that the hydrogen density at the MOS interface was increased by the wet annealing and the hydrogen was desorbed mainly at temperatures between 800 °C and 900 °C. These hydrogen desorption temperatures also corresponded to the temperatures of the μFE reduction by argon annealing after the wet annealing. These results indicated that this high channel mobility was achieved by hydrogen passivation during the wet annealing at temperatures between 800 °C and 900 °C.

Abstract: Improvement of the channel mobility is needed in 4H-SiC MOSFETs for the maximum utilization of the material potential for novel power devices. We have attempted to obtain smoother MOS interfaces as one of the ways to reduce the interface states which lead to decrease of the channel mobility. We formed a terrace on the macro-stepped surface by annealing in Si melt and found that it was atomically flat. We fabricated a lateral MOSFET on the macro-stepped surface and obtained a high MOS channel mobility of 102 cm2/Vs.