Oxidation, MOS Capacitors, and MOSFETs

One of the most important advantages of SiC as a wide-energy-gap material is the high quality of the interface with its native oxide (SiO2). It is this feature that is critical for the development of the most used semiconductor device — the metal—oxide—semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET). This chapter presents the current understanding of the interface and near-interface defects in thermally oxidized SiC. Particular emphasis is placed on the characterization techniques, given that nonequilibrium conditions, which appear owing to wide energy gap of SiC, lead to qualitatively different results from the case where these widely used techniques are applied to Si structures. A special section is devoted to nitridation of SiC—SiO2 interfaces as the most promising technique for achieving the device-quality interfaces required for commercial applications. Finally, the performance of some of the power MOSFETs fabricated on SiC is presented.

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