The Impact of Defect Density on Mechanical Characteristics of 4H-SiC Substrates

Abstract

In this work the intrinsic and induced defects related to the mechanical strength of 4H-SiC wafer have been investigated by considering substrates having different dislocation density and subjected to different treatments such as thinning process and high temperature bulk and laser annealing. Three point bending test has been performed on die extracted from the substrates in order to calculate the stress σ the die can withstand at breakage (flexural strength). The variation of intrinsic defect density seems does not act to modify the material flexural strength. Conversely, a considerable correlation between the induced defect density and flexural strength has been found.