Materials Science Forum Vol. 924

Abstract: During 4H silicon carbide (4H-SiC) homoepitaxy and post-growth processes, the development of stress relaxation has been observed, in which interfacial dislocations (IDs) are formed at the epilayer/substrate interface, relaxing the misfit strain induced by the nitrogen doping concentration difference between the epilayer and substrate. It is widely believed that an interfacial dislocation is created by the glide of a mobile segment of a basal plane dislocation (BPD) in the substrate or epilayer towards the interface, leaving a trailing edge component right at the interface. However, direct observation of such mechanisms has not been made in SiC before. In this work, we present an in situ study of the stress relaxation process, in which a specimen cut from a commercial 4H-SiC homoepitaxial wafer undergoes the stress relaxation process during a high-temperature heat treatment while sequential synchrotron white beam X-ray topographs were recorded simultaneously. Based on the dynamic observation of this process, it can be concluded that thermal stress plays a role in the relaxation process while the increased misfit strain at elevated temperature most likely drives the formation of an interfacial dislocation.

Abstract: Synchrotron X-ray topography was carried out for 4H-SiC crystals grown by high-temperature gas source method, and transmission topography analysis with g= or 0004 was carried out for the cross-sectional samples. Dislocation contrasts extended in the growth direction were observed and the propagation behavior of threading screw dislocations (TSDs), threading edge dislocations (TEDs), basal plane dislocations (BPDs) and stacking faults (SFs) in the facet and step-flow regions were discussed. The propagation of dislocations in the fast grown crystal with a growth rate of 3.1mm/h was also evaluated by cross-sectional topography.

Abstract: In this work, we analyze compensating defects which are formed after implantation of aluminum (Al) into n-type 4H-SiC epitaxial layers and subsequent thermal annealing. These defects reduce the expected free charge carrier density by 84% for a low doped layer with [Al]_impl ≈ 9ž·10¹⁶ cm^-3 and by 27 % for a high doped layer with [Al]_impl ≈ 2·ž10¹⁹ cm^-3. Furthermore, an electrical activation ratio of implanted aluminum ions of 100 % is calculated. The ionization energy of implanted aluminum as measured by Hall effect and admittance spectroscopy ranges from 101 meV to 305 meV depending on the doping concentration.

Abstract: The conduction mechanism in heavily Al-doped or heavily Al-and N-codoped p-type 4H-SiC epilayers was investigated. In both the singly-doped and codoped samples with an Al concentration (C_Al) between 4x10¹⁹ and 2x10²⁰ cm^-3, band and nearest-neighbor hopping (NNH) conductions appeared in high and low temperature ranges, respectively. The codoping of N donors makes the NNH conduction dominant at temperatures higher than in the singly-doped samples. In both the singly-doped and codoped samples with C_Al between 1x10¹⁹ and 4x10¹⁹ cm^-3, an unexpected conduction appeared between the regions of the band and NNH conductions.

Abstract: We propose an empirical model to predict electrical activation ratios of aluminium- and boron-implanted silicon carbide with respect to various annealing temperatures. The obtained parameters and model extensions are implemented into Silvaco’s Victory Process simulator to enable accurate predictions of post-implantation process steps. The thus augmented simulator is used for numerous simulations to evaluate the activation behavior of p-type dopants as well as for the full process simulation of a pn-junction SiC diode to extract the carrier and acceptor depth profiles and compare the results with experimental findings.

Abstract: Electrical testing with regard to bipolar degradation of high voltage SiC devices cannot be done on wafer level, but only expensively after module assembly. We show that 4H-SiC material can be optically stressed by applying high UV laser intensities, i.e. bipolar degradation as in electrical stress tests can be provoked on wafer level. Therefore, optical stressing can be used for control measurements and reliability testing. Different injection (=stress) levels have been used similar to the typical doping level of the base material and similar to the established electrical stress test. The analysis of degradation is done by photoluminescence imaging which is a well-established technique for revealing structural defects such as Basal Plane Dislocations (BPDs) and stacking faults (SFs) in 4H-SiC epiwafers and partially processed devices.

Abstract: The diffusion of the carbon vacancy (V_C) in n-type 4H-SiC has been studied using Deep Level Transient Spectroscopy (DLTS). Samples grown along two different crystallographic planes, (0001) or c-cut and (11-20) or a-cut, have been utilized. The samples were implanted with 4.0 MeV C ions to generate V_C’s and subsequently annealed at temperatures between 200 and 1500 °C. Following each annealing stage, concentration versus depth profiles of the V_C were obtained. The V_C is essentially immobile in both the c-cut and a-cut samples up to at least 1200 °C. The 1400 °C annealing stage, however, resulted in considerable migration, predominantly along the a-direction. Using half the difference in the Full Width at Half Maximum (FWHM) of the initial and diffused concentration profiles as a measure of the diffusion length, we deduced the diffusivity of the V_C at 1400 °C to be approximately (3.8±1.1)×10^-14 cm²/s along the c-axis and (4.1±1.2)×10^-13 cm²/s along the a-axis, indicating a substantial anisotropy for the V_C diffusion in 4H-SiC.

Abstract: Luminescence centers formed in the vicinity of SiC surface are expected to be utilized as Single Photon Sources (SPSs) because of the high-brightness and the potential of electric control at room temperature. In order to gain more insight into the surface SPSs, 4H-SiC pin-diodes are fabricated and the surface SPSs formed in the pin diodes are investigated using a confocal laser scanning fluorescence microscope (CFM). Locations where the surface SPSs appear as well as photoluminescence spectra of the observed surface SPSs are presented. Antibunching characteristics of the surface SPSs are also investigated by the second order autocorrelation function measurement. We conclude that two different types of surface SPSs appear in the surface of 4H-SiC. The location dependence of the observed surface SPSs indicates that the oxide layer on 4H-SiC plays an important role in the formation of surface SPSs, whereas neither ion implantation nor donor ions had an effect. The peak wavelength of luminescence spectra widely varies depending on their locations, indicating lattice strain introduced by the oxide layer has the potential to affect the luminescence spectra.

Abstract: The dislocation of a p⁺ high-temperature, high-pressure (HPHT) seed crystal is analyzed by X-ray topography using a SR light source, and compared with that of an insulating HPHT seed crystal. The dislocation density of the typical insulating HPHT substrate is around 250 cm^-2. Over several years, significant progress has been achieved in reducing the dislocation density of the typical insulating HPHT substrate from the order of 10⁴–10⁵ cm^-2 to 10² cm^-2. The p⁺ HPHT seed crystal has unique properties, especially in terms of the number of stacking faults (SFs), and very clear growth sector boundaries with dislocation densities of up to 3000 cm^-2. As most research activities have been focused on the “insulating substrate” in HPHT growth technology for a long time, several challenges need to be overcome with respect to the growth of a p⁺ HPHT crystal.

Abstract: Several studies have been carried out regarding the influence of dislocations on device characteristics; however, most of them had been limited to pseudo-vertical structures using high pressure high temperature (HPHT) insulating material as the substrate. In this study, we have investigated the influence of dislocations to the devices using vertical structure SBD on p+ HPHT substrate. SBDs were selectively fabricated on specific dislocation areas. The SBD fabricated on the threading dislocation area indicated fatal influence of the dislocation on the device characteristics.