Silicon carbide has been preferred over other wide band-gap semiconductors for high power applications because of its unique ability to grow a thermal oxide, challenges lie in the quality of the dielectric and of the SiO2/SiC interface.
This thesis focuses on the electrical properties and the reliability of the oxide and its interface with silicon carbide. In particular, the effects of processing parameters, such as implant activation, oxidation conditions (partial pressure), and post-oxidation anneal (nitridation), are considered. Tests are performed on metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) capacitors probed by capacitance-voltage measurements (CV), carrier injection (tunneling, photo-emission, irradiation), and time-dependent dielectric breakdown (TDDB). The most important new finding is that nitrogen, required for passivating the complex SiO2/SiC interface, can be detrimental to its reliability. Indeed, nitridation leads to the formation of hole traps, yielding large voltage instabilities.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VANDERBILT/oai:VANDERBILTETD:etd-04062008-235422 |
| Date | 28 April 2008 |
| Creators | Rozen, John |
| Contributors | Bridget R. Rogers, John R. Williams, Richard F. Haglund, Jr., Leonard C. Feldman, Ronald D. Schrimpf |
| Publisher | VANDERBILT |
| Source Sets | Vanderbilt University Theses |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.vanderbilt.edu/available/etd-04062008-235422/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to Vanderbilt University or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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