Detecting Basal Plane Dislocations Converted in Highly Doped Epilayers

Abstract

Suppression of the forward voltage degradation is essential in fabricating bipolar devices on silicon carbide. Using a highly N–doped 4H–epilayer as an enhancing minority carrier recombination layer is a powerful tool for reducing the expansion of BPDs converted at the epi/sub interface; however, these BPDs cannot be observed by using the near–infrared photoluminescence in the layer. Near–ultraviolet photoluminescence was instead used to detect BPDs as dark lines. In addition, a short BPD converted near the epi/sub interface and contributing to the degradation was detected. When this evaluation was applied to the fabrication of a pin diode including a highly N–doped 4H–epilayer, the Vf shift was suppressed in comparison with that in a diode without the layer.