Bulk Crystal Growth, Epitaxy, and Defect Reduction in Silicon Carbide Materials for Microwave and Power Devices

We discuss continuing materials technology improvements that have transformed silicon carbide from an intriguing laboratory material into a premier manufacturable semiconductor technology. This advancement is demonstrated by reduced micropipe densities as low as 0.22 cm -2 on 3-in.-diameter conductive wafers and 16 cm -2 on 100-mm-diameter conductive wafers. For high-purity semi-insulating materials, we confirm that the carbon vacancy is the dominant deep-level trapping state, and we report very consistent cross-wafer activation energies derived from temperature-dependent resistivity. Warm-wall and hot-wall SiC epitaxy platforms are discussed in terms of capability and applications. Specific procedures that essentially eliminate forward-voltage drift in bipolar SiC devices are presented in detail.

[1]  J. Sumakeris,et al.  Cross-sectional structure of carrot defects in 4H–SiC epilayers , 2004 .

[2]  M. Paisley,et al.  Large Area SiC Epitaxial Layer Growth in a Warm-Wall Planetary VPE Reactor , 2005 .

[3]  J. Sumakeris,et al.  Large Diameter 4H-SiC Substrates for Commercial Power Applications , 2004 .

[4]  Tadashi Ito,et al.  Ultrahigh-quality silicon carbide single crystals , 2004, Nature.

[5]  C. Carter,et al.  Superscrew dislocation contrast on synchrotron white-beam topographs: an accurate description of the direct dislocation image , 1999 .

[6]  H. Lendenmann,et al.  Long Term Operation of 4.5kV PiN and 2.5kV JBS Diodes , 2001 .

[7]  R. C. Clarke,et al.  Growth of large SiC single crystals , 1993 .

[8]  M. Skowronski,et al.  On the compensation mechanism in high‐resistivity 6H–SiC doped with vanadium , 1995 .

[9]  H. Bleichner,et al.  High-Power SiC Diodes: Characteristics, Reliability and Relation to Material Defects , 2002 .

[10]  V. Tsvetkov,et al.  Investigation of growth processes of ingots of silicon carbide single crystals , 1978 .

[11]  Marek Skowronski,et al.  Dislocation conversion in 4H silicon carbide epitaxy , 2002 .

[12]  U. Gerstmann,et al.  Structure of the silicon vacancy in 6H-SiC after annealing identified as the carbon vacancy–carbon antisite pair , 2001 .

[13]  H. Tsuchida,et al.  4H-SiC Epitaxial Growth for High-Power Devices , 2003 .

[14]  A. Henry,et al.  Nitrogen doping concentration as determined by photoluminescence in 4H– and 6H–SiC , 1996 .

[15]  M. Das,et al.  High Power 4H-SiC PiN Diodes with Minimal Forward Voltage Drift , 2004 .

[16]  E. Janzén,et al.  Carbon vacancy-related defect in 4H and 6H SiC , 2001 .

[17]  A. Powell,et al.  High-purity semi-insulating 4H-SiC for microwave device applications , 2003 .

[18]  H. Tsuchida,et al.  Investigation of Basal Plane Dislocations in the 4H-SiC Epilayers Grown on {0001} Substrates , 2005 .

[19]  Larry Wang.  Measurement of Low Level Nitrogen in Silicon Carbide Using SIMS , 2004 .

[20]  P. Lanig,et al.  Influence of surface energy on the growth of 6H- and 4H-SiC polytypes by sublimation , 1992 .

[21]  J. Skowronski,et al.  Deep level transient spectroscopic and Hall effect investigation of the position of the vanadium acceptor level in 4H and 6H SiC , 1996 .

[22]  M. Treu,et al.  Influence of Overgrown Micropipes in the Active Area of SiC Schottky Diodes on Long Term Reliability , 2005 .

[23]  John W. Palmour,et al.  Approaches to Stabilizing the Forward Voltage of Bipolar SiC Devices , 2004 .