Evaluation of On-State Resistance and Boron-Related Levels in n-Type 4H-SiC

Abstract

Specific on-resistance Ron estimated from current density-voltage characteristics of Schottky diodes on thick layers exhibits variations from tens of mW.cm2 to tens of W.cm2 for different doping levels. In order to understand the occurrence of high on-state resistance, Schottky barrier heights were first estimated for both forward and reverse bias with the application of thermionic emission theory and were in agreement with a literature reported values. Decrease in mobility with the temperature was observed and its dependencies of T–1.3 and T–2.0 for moderately doped and low doped samples respectively were estimated. From deep level measurements by Minority Carrier Transient Spectroscopy, an influence of shallow boron related levels and D-center on dependence of on-state resistance was observed, being more pronounced in low doped samples. Similar tendency was observed in depth profiling of Ron. This suggests a major role of boron in a compensation mechanism thus resulting in high Ron.