Effects of Postdeposition Annealing on the Electrical Properties of Cu2O/4H–SiC PiN Diodes

Abstract

Copper oxide (Cu2O) is a promising p‐type material owing to its high absorption coefficient, suitable bandgap width, chemical stability, nontoxicity, and abundance. In this study, the effect of postdeposition annealing (PDA) on the electrical properties of Cu2O thin films deposited on silicon carbide (SiC) substrates is investigated. The films are subjected to PDA using radio‐frequency sputtering at various temperatures in air. During PDA, the Cu2O films are maintained at <300 °C and transitioned to cupric oxide (CuO) at 400 °C. The as‐deposited Cu2O film exhibits a low oxidation peak (Cu2+), whereas the phase‐transformed CuO films exhibit a higher binding energy with the emergence of satellite peaks. The rectification ratios of the Cu2O device annealed at 300 °C and CuO device annealed at 400 °C are determined as 2.02 × 107 and 1.01 × 105, respectively, denoting the substantial enhancement of approximately 55.04 for the Cu2O/SiC device and degradation of approximately 0.28 for the CuO/SiC device relative to their non‐annealed counterparts. Therefore, in this study, the significant improvement in the performance of Cu2O thin films with the meticulous deposition control of potential p‐type materials, such as Cu2O and CuO, for high‐throughput and low‐cost electronic applications is demonstrated.