Silicon carbide is known for its potential in high power, high radiation and high temperature applications. It is also one of the first materials observed with phenomenon of electroluminescence. Depending on the mechanism of recombination, carriers inside silicon carbide recombine and release photons at different wavelengths. As one of the third-generation semiconductors, many studies focus on the effects of defects on silicon carbide device stability and performance. Especially for defects like stacking faults, which can be generated either during fabrication or induced by current under forward bias, can cause severe device degradation and limits the use of silicon carbide. By testing electroluminescence of silicon carbide, one can analyses the recombination event and identify the defects that trapped carriers, as each recombination mechanism would be shown as a unique emission peak on the sample EL spectra. In addition to the as-grown and recombination-induced defects, the changes of spectrum due to stress and chemical etching indicate the influence of external factors to the defects that are either existed prior to the external forces or that were induced during the testing. Such analysis could be helpful to understand the defect generation mechanism, reduce the density of the defects and to create innovative ideas for future applications. A general introduction to silicon carbide will be given in Chapter 1 with some detailed description of silicon carbide defect generation and characterization mechanisms in Chapter 2. In Chapters 3 and 4, the focus is to analyse the external effects to the spectrum of 4H silicon carbide, like chemical etching and mechanical stress. Before giving the conclusion in Chapter 6, Chapter 5 will be focusing on analysing the effect of external forces on the silicon carbide with stacking faults existed prior to the testing. / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc)

No description available.

SiC has become an attractive wide bandgap semiconductor due to its unique physical and electronic properties and is widely used in high temperature, high frequency, high power and radiation resistant applications. SiC has been used as an alternative to Si in harsh environments such as in the oil industry, nuclear power systems, aeronautical, and space applications. SiC is also known for its polytypism and among them 3C-SiC, 4H-SiC and 6H-SiC are the most common polytypes used for research purposes. Among these polytypes 4H-SiC is gaining importance due to its easy commercial availability with a large bandgap of 3.26 eV at room temperature. Controlled creation of defects in materials is an approach to modify the electronic properties in a way that new functionality may result. SiC is a promising candidate for defect-induced magnetism on which spintronic devices could be developed. The defects considered are of room temperature stable vacancy types, eliminating the need for magnetic impurities, which easily diffuse at room temperature. Impurity free vacancy type defects can be created by implanting the host atoms of silicon or carbon. The implantation fluence determines the defect density, which is a critical parameter for defect induced magnetism. Therefore, we have studied the influence of low fluence low energy silicon and carbon implantation on the creation of defects in n-type 4H-SiC. The characterization of the defects in these implanted samples was performed using the techniques, RBS-channeling and Raman spectroscopy. We have also utilized these characterization techniques to analyze defects created in much deeper layers of the SiC due to implantation of high energy nitrogen ions. The experimentally determined depths of the Si damage peaks due to low energy (60 keV) Si and C ions with low fluences (< 1015 cm-2) are consistent with the SRIM-2011 simulations. From RBS-C Si sub-lattice measurements for different fluences (1.1×1014 cm-2 to 3.2×1014 cm-2) of Si implantation in 4H-SiC, the Si vacancy density is estimated to range from 1.29×1022 cm-3 to 4.57×1022 cm-2, corresponding to average vacancy distances of 4.26 Å to 2.79 Å at the damage peak (50±5 nm). Similarly, for C implanted fluences (1.85×1014 cm-2 to 1×1015 cm-2), the Si vacancy density varies from 1.37×1022 cm-3 to 4.22×1022 cm-3 with the average vacancy distances from 4.17 Å to 2.87 Å at the damage peak (110±10 nm). From the Raman spectroscopy, the implantation-induced lattice disorders calculated along the c-axis (LO mode) and perpendicular to c-axis (TO mode) in 4H-SiC are found to be similar. Furthermore, the results obtained from SQUID measurements in C implanted n-type 4H-SiC sample with fluences ranging from 1×1012 to 1.7×1016 ions/cm2 have been discussed. The implanted samples showed diamagnetism similar to the unimplanted sample. To date, to our best of knowledge, no experimental work has been reported on investigating defect induced magnetism for self-ion implantation in n-type 4H-SiC. These first reports of experimental results can provide useful information in future studies for a better understanding of self-ion implantation in SiC-based DMS.

Silicon Carbide is a wide bandgap semiconductor with excellent physical and opto-electrical properties. Among these excellent properties are its radiation hardness, high temperature operation and high electric field breakdown. SiC can therefore be used in the fabrication of electronic devices capable of operating in harsh environments, e.g. radiation detectors. Like any other semiconductor, the success of SiC in device fabrication depends on elimination of defects that are detrimental to desired devices or controlled introduction of desired energy levels. The first step in so doing is understanding the defects that are either found in as grown material, introduced during device fabrication or introduced during device operation. In this study nickel ohmic and Schottky contacts were resistively fabricated on n-type 4H-SiC with a net doping density of 4 × 1014 cm-3. Current-Voltage (I-V), Capacitance-Voltage (C-V), Deep Level Transient Spectroscopy (DLTS) and Laplace-DLTS measurement techniques were used to electrically characterize the fabricated Schottky diodes. The diodes were then irradiated with low energy electrons, alpha particles and protons. The characterization measurements were repeated after irradiation to evaluate the effect of irradiation on the electrical properties of SiC. It was observed from I-V measurements that electron, alpha particle and proton irradiations do not significantly affect the rectification of Ni/SiC Schottky contacts. C-V measurements indicated that the free carrier removal rate is higher for alpha particle irradiation as compared to electron irradiation. The irradiated diodes were annealed in argon ambient and significant recovery in the free carrier concentration was observed below 600 °C. The free carrier concentration of proton irradiated Schottky contacts, which was decreased to below detection levels was also partly recovered after heat treatment of up to 400 °C. DLTS and Laplace-DLTS measurements revealed the presence of four defect levels in as-grown 4H-SiC. These defects have been labelled E0.10, E0.12, E0.17 and E0.69 where the subscripts indicate the activation energies of the respective defects. Electron, alpha particle and proton irradiations were observed to induce three more defect levels with activation energies of 0.42 eV, 0.62 eV and 0.76 eV. Additionally, these irradiations were also observed to enhance the concentration of level E0.69. All the radiation induced defects were annealed out at temperatures below 600 °C. In proton irradiated diodes, another defect with activation energy of 0.31 eV was observed after annealing the irradiated diodes at 625 °C. / Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / lk2014 / Physics / MSc / Unrestricted

New halo-carbon precursor, CH3Cl, is used in this work to replace the traditional C3H8 gas as a carbon precursor for the homoepitaxial growth of 4H-SiC. The traditional SiH4-C3H8-H2 systems require high growth temperatures to enable the desirable steplow growth for high-quality epilayers. A well known problem of the regular-temperature growth is the homogeneous gas-phase nucleation caused by SiH4 decomposition. However, the degree of Si cluster formation in the gas phase and its influence on our low-temperature epitaxial growth was unknown prior to this work. Growth at temperatures below 1400°C was demonstrated previously only for a limited range of substrate surface orientations and with poor quality. Mirror-like epilayer surface without foreign polytype inclusions and with rare surface defects was demonstrated at temperatures down to 1280-1300°C for our halo-carbon growth. Quantitatively different growth-rate dependences on the carbon-precursor flow rate suggested different precursor decomposition kinetics and different surface reactions in CH3Cl and C3H8 systems. Photoluminescence measurement indicated the high quality of the epilayers grown at 1300°C. A mirror-like surface morphology with rare surface defects was demonstrated for the growth on low off-axis substrates at 1380°C. The most critical growth-rate limiting mechanism during the low-temperature epitaxial growth is the formation of Si clusters, which depleted the Si supply to the growth surface, in the gas phase. Presence of chlorine in the CH3Cl precursor significantly reduces but does not completely eliminate this problem. The addition of HCl during growths improved the growth rate and surface morphology drastically but also brought up some complex results, suggesting more complex mechanisms of HCl interaction with the gas-phase clusters. These complicated results were explained partly by an additional mechanism of precursor depletion enhanced in presence of HCl. Complex changes in the effective silicon to carbon ratio in the growth zone indicated that the supply of carbon species may also be enhanced at least at low HCl flow rates. This fact allowed us to suggest that the gas-phase clusters may contain a significant amount of carbon. The new model assuming coexistence of the silicon and carbon in the gas-phase clusters enabled the explanation of the complex experimental trends reported in this work.

No description available.

Le carbure de silicium est un semi-conducteur à grand gap qui s’est récemment imposé comme un matériau clé pour l’électronique de puissance. Les cristaux massifs ainsi que les couches épitaxiales actives sont aujourd’hui obtenus par des procédés en phase gazeuse, comme la croissance par sublimation (ou PVT) et le dépôt chimique en phase gazeuse (CVD), respectivement. Le procédé de croissance en solution à haute température est actuellement revisité en raison de sa capacité à atteindre des qualités cristallines exceptionnelles. Ce travail est une contribution au développement du procédé de croissance en solution à partir d’un germe (TSSG), avec comme objectif principal l’accès à des cristaux de 4H-SiC fortement dopés de type p. Le dopant p le plus utilisé est l’Aluminium. Différentes étapes élémentaires du procédé sont étudiées, avec pour chaque étape l’évaluation de l’effet de l’Al. Après un bref rappel historique sur le SiC, les données fondamentales du SiC sont introduites dans le chapitre 1 et discutées par rapport aux applications en électronique de puissance. Dans le chapitre 2, le réacteur de croissance est détaillé. Les trois principaux aspects techniques du procédé sont exposés : i) l’apport en carbone par dissolution à l’interface entre le creuset en graphite et le liquide, ii) le transport du carbone de la zone de dissolution à la zone de cristallisation, et iii) la cristallisation sur le germe. Ces trois aspects ont été étudiés et améliorés par l’ajout de métaux de transition (Fe ou Cr) au solvant de façon à augmenter la solubilité en carbone, en favorisant le transport du carbone par l’optimisation de la convection forcée (i.e. la rotation du cristal) et en stabilisant le front de croissance. Après optimisation, un cristal de 4H-SiC a pu être obtenu à une vitesse supérieure à 300 µm/hr et avec un élargissement du diamètre d’environ 41% par rapport au diamètre initial du germe. Le chapitre 3 porte sur l’étude de l’interaction entre le solvant et la surface du 4H-SiC à l’équilibre, sans croissance, en utilisant la méthode de la goutte posée. L’effet du temps, de la température et de l’ajout d’Al ont été étudiés. L’interface liquide/solide présente une évolution en trois étapes : i) dissolution, ii) step-bunching et iii) facettage, la surface initiale en marches et terrasses se décomposant en facettes de type (0001), (10-1n) et (01-1n). L’augmentation de la température de 1600°C à 1800°C provoque le même effet que l’ajout d’aluminium : une accélération de la deuxième étape ainsi qu’une limitation de la troisième étape. Dans le chapitre 4, des phénomènes transitoires ont été étudiés lorsque le substrat touche la surface du liquide. A l’instant du contact, il a été démontré par simulation numérique que le liquide au voisinage du substrat est sujet à de très fortes fluctuations de températures et donc à de fortes fluctuations de sursaturation. Ceci est à l’origine d’une germination transitoire de 3C-SiC sur la surface du cristal et ce, même à très haute température. Ce phénomène peut être évité soit en préchauffant le cristal avant le contact soit en ajoutant de l’aluminium dans le liquide. L’amélioration de la convection forcée est un moyen efficace pour augmenter la vitesse de croissance. Cependant, au-delà d’une certaine vitesse de rotation du cristal, un type d’instabilité spécifique se développe. Elle est basée sur l’interaction entre la direction d’avancée de marches à la surface du cristal et la direction locale du flux de liquide au voisinage de la surface. Ceci fait l’objet du chapitre 5. Finalement, la concentration de porteurs ainsi que la concentration totale en azote (N) et en aluminium (Al) sont étudiées en fonction de différents paramètres de croissance dans le chapitre 6. Une concentration en Al aussi élevée que 5E+20 at/cm3 a pu être obtenue à 1850°C. Cette valeur est très prometteuse pour le futur développement de substrats de 4H-SiC de type p+. / Silicon Carbide is a wide band gap semiconductor which has recently imposed as a key material for modern power electronics. Bulk single crystals and active epilayers are industrially produced by vapor phase processes, namely seeded sublimation growth (PVT) and chemical vapor deposition (CVD) respectively. The high temperature solution growth is currently being revisited due to its potential for achieving high structural quality. This work is a contribution to the development of the top seeded solution growth (TSSG) process, with a special focus on heavily p-type doped 4H-SiC crystals. Aluminum (Al) is the most commonly used acceptor in SiC. Different elementary steps of the process are studied, and for every cases, the effect of Al is considered and discussed. After a brief history of SiC material, basic structural and physical properties of silicon carbide are introduced in chapter 1 and discussed with respect to power electronics applications. In chapter 2, the crystal growth puller is detailed and the three most important technical issues of the SiC solution growth process are discussed : i) carbon supply by dissolution at the graphite crucible/liquid interface, ii) carbon transport from the dissolution area to the growth front, and iii) crystallization on the seed substrate. These three steps are studied and improved by adding transition metals (Fe or Cr) to the solvent in order to increase the carbon solubility, by increasing the carbon transport with the optimization of the forced convection (i.e. rotation of the crystal) and by stabilizing the growth front. After optimization, a 4H-SiC crystal is demonstrated with a growth rate of over 300 µm/h and a diameter enlargement of about 41% compared to the original seed size. Chapter 3 is dedicated to the investigation of the interaction between the liquid solvent and the 4H-SiC surface under equilibrium conditions, i.e. without any growth, using a sessile drop method. Effect of time, temperature and the addition of Al to pure liquid silicon are investigated. It is shown that the liquid/solid exhibits a three stages evolution: i) dissolution, ii) step bunching and iii) faceting, the original step and terrace structure being decomposed into (0001), (10-1n) and (01-1n) facets. Increasing the temperature from 1600°C to 1800°C or adding Al drastically enhances the second stage, but reduces the third one. In chapter 4, transient phenomena during the seeding stage of the growth process on the seed crystal are investigated. With the help of numerical modeling, it is shown that strong temperature fluctuations during the contact between the seed and the liquid can give rise to transient 3C-SiC nucleation on the crystal surface, even at high temperatures. This phenomenon can be avoided by either pre-heating the seed or by adding Al. Increasing forced convection (rotation rate of the crystal) is a good way to increase the growth rate. However, above a critical rotation rate, a special surface instability develops. It is based on the interaction between the step flow at the growing surface and the local fluid flow directions close to the surface. This is investigated in Chapter 5. Finally, carrier concentrations and total dopant (nitrogen and aluminum) concentrations are investigated as a function of different process parameters in chapter 6. Al incorporation as high as 5E+20 at/cm3 has been achieved in layers grown at 1850°C. This value is very promising for the future development of p+ 4H-SiC substrates.

Ce travail concerne l'ajout de GeH4 au système de précurseurs gazeux classique SiH4+C3H8 pour la croissance épitaxiale de SiC par dépôt chimique en phase vapeur. L'objectif principal était d'explorer l'influence de la présence de l'élément Ge (impureté isoélectronique à SiC), dans la matrice SiC ou à sa surface, sur les mécanismes de croissance et sur la qualité et les propriétés des couches minces déposées. La croissance épitaxiale a été réalisée dans la gamme de température 1450-1600°C sur des substrats 4H-SiC(0001) désorientés fortement (4° et 8°) ou faiblement (0° et 1°). Sur les germes désorientés, nous avons exploré l'impact des atomes de Ge sur la qualité des couches homoépitaxiales, d'un point de vue morphologique et structural. Les mécanismes d'incorporation de cette impureté ont été étudiés en fonctions des paramètres de croissance. Il a été montré que l'incorporation de cet élément peut être contrôlée dans la gamme 1x1016 - 7x1018 at.cm-3. De plus, cette incorporation de Ge s'accompagne d'une augmentation du dopage de type n. Les caractérisations électriques de ces couches montrent une amélioration de la mobilité et de la conductivité électrique du matériau 4H-SiC sans aucun impact négatif sur les caractéristiques de contact Schottky. Sur les substrats faiblement désorientés, GeH4 a été ajouté à la phase gazeuse uniquement pendant l'étape de préparation de la surface, c’est-à-dire avant d'initier la croissance de SiC. Il a été montré que des couches hétéroépitaxiales de 3C-SiC exemptes de macles peuvent être déposées dans une fenêtre de conditions expérimentales (température et flux de GeH4). Un mécanisme permettant l'élimination des macles a été proposé. Il implique une étape transitoire de croissance homoépitaxiale, favorisée par la présence de Ge liquide à la surface, suivie de la nucléation de 3C-SiC sur les larges terrasses résultant du facettage des marches. Ces couches de 3C-SiC ont été caractérisées électriquement par microscopie à force atomique en mode conduction / In this work, addition of GeH4 gas to the classical SiH4+C3H8 precursor system is reported for the epitaxial growth of SiC by chemical vapor deposition. The main objective of this fundamental study is to explore the influence of Ge presence within SiC lattice or at its surface on the overall growth mechanism and the grown layer quality and properties. Epitaxial growth was performed either on high off axis (8 and 4°) or low off-axis (1° and on-axis) 4H-SiC substrate in the temperature range 1450-1600°C. On high off-axis seeds, we discussed the impact of Ge atoms on the homoepitaxial layer quality from surface morphological and structural point of view. Ge incorporation mechanism in these layers as a function of growth parameters was also investigated. The Ge incorporation can be controlled from 1x1016 - 7x1018 at.cm-3. Moreover, a clear link between n-type doping and Ge incorporation was found. Electrical characterizations of these layers show an improvement of electron mobility and conductivity of 4H-SiC material while the performances of Schottky contacts were not negatively impacted. On low off-axis seeds, GeH4 was added to the gas phase only during the surface preparation step, i.e. before starting the SiC growth. It was found that there is a conditions window (temperature and GeH4 flux) for which heteroepitaxial 3C-SiC twin free layers can be grown. Interpretation of the results allowed proposing a mechanism leading to twin boundary elimination. It involves a transient homoepitaxial growth step, favored by the presence of liquid Ge at the surface, followed by 3C nucleation when large terraces are formed by step faceting. Electrical characteristics of the twin free 3C-SiC layers were studied using conductive atomic force microscopy (c-AFM)

Ces travaux de thèse sont consacrés à l’étude de l’activation des dopants implantés dans le carbure de silicium. L’objectif est de proposer des conditions d’implantation optimisées pour réaliser le dopage de type n dans le 3C-SiC et de type p dans le 4H-SiC.Nous avons tout d’abord étudié les implantations de type n dans le 3C-SiC. Pour cela, des implantations de N, de P et une co-implantation N&P avec les recuits d’activation associés ont été étudiés. L’implantation d’azote suivie d’un recuit à 1400°C-30min a permis une activation proche de 100% tout en conservant une bonne qualité cristalline. Une étude sur les propriétés électriques des défauts étendus dans le 3C-SiC a également été réalisée. A l’aide de mesures SSRM, nous avons mis en évidence l’activité électrique de ces défauts, ce qui rend difficile la réalisation de composants électroniques sur le 3C-SiC.Nous avons ensuite réalisé une étude du dopage de type p par implantation d’Al dans le 4H-SiC, en fonction de la température d’implantation et du recuit d’activation. Nous avons pu montrer qu’une implantation à 200°C suivie d’un recuit à 1850°C-30min donne les meilleures résultats en termes de propriétés physiques et électriques. / This work was dedicated to the activation of implanted dopants in 3C-SiC and 4H-SiC. The goal is to propose optimized process conditions for n-type implantation in 3C-SiC and for p-type in 4H-SiC.We have first studied the n-type implantation in 3C-SiC. To do so, N, P implantations, N&P co-implantation and the associated annealings were performed. The nitrogen implanted sample, annealed at 1400°C-30 min evidences a dopant activation rate close to 100% while maintaining a good crystal quality. Furthermore, the electrical properties of extended defects in 3C-SiC have been studied. Using the SSRM measurements, we have evidenced for the first time that these defects have a very high electrical activity and as a consequence on future devices.Then, we have realized a study on p-type doping by Al implantation in 4H-SiC with different implantation and annealing temperatures. Al implantation at 200°C followed by an annealing at 1850°C-30min lead to the best results in terms of physical and electrical properties.

This thesis focuses on the design of high voltage MOSFET on SiC and its application in power electronic systems. Parameters extraction for 4H SiC MOS devices is the main focus of the first topic developed in this thesis. Calibration of two-dimensional (2-D) device and circuit simulators (MEDICI and SPICE) with state-of-the-art 4H SiC MOSFETs data are performed, which includes the mobility parameter extraction. The experimental data were obtained from lateral N-channel 4H SiC MOSFETs with nitrided oxide-semiconductor interfaces, exhibiting normal mobility behavior. The presence of increasing interface-trap density (Dit) toward the edge of the conduction band is included during the 2-D device simulation. Using measured distribution of interface-trap density for simulation of the transfer characteristics leads to good agreement with the experimental transfer characteristic. The results demonstrate that both MEDICI and SPICE simulators can be used for design and optimization of 4H SiC MOSFETs and the circuits utilizing these MOSFETs. Based on critical review of SiC power MOSFETs, a new structure of SiC accumulation-mode MOSFET (ACCUFET) designed to address most of the open issues related to MOS interface is proposed. Detailed analysis of the important design parameters of the novel structure is performed using MEDICI with the parameter set used in the calibration process. The novel structure was also compared to alternative ACCUFET approaches, specifically planar and trench-gate ACCUFETs. The comparison shows that the novel structure provides the highest figure of merit for power devices. The analysis of circuit advantages enabled by the novel SiC ACCUFET is given in the final part of this thesis. The results from circuit simulation show that by utilizing the novel SiC ACCUFET the operating frequency of the circuit can be increased 10 times for the same power efficiency of the system. This leads to dramatic improvements in size, weight, cost and thermal management of power electronic systems.