Fabrication of a 600-V/20-A 4H-SiC schottky barrier diode

Abstract

In this study, 600-V/20-A 4H-SiC Schottky barrier diodes (SBDs) were fabricated to investigate the effect of key processing steps, especially before and after the formation of a Schottky contact, on the electrical performances of SBDs and on their long-term reliabilities. The results show that 4H-SiC SBDs that had been subjected to a hydrogen-ambient annealing at 470 °C for 10 min and sacrificial treatment right after ion activation exhibited a lower forward voltage drop (V _F ) at a rated current of 20 A, a higher blocking voltage of 800 V, and a very short reverse recovery time of 17.5 ns. Despite the harsh reverse bias condition and temperature, a long-term reliability test showed that changes in the forward voltage drop and the reverse leakage current (I _R ) were 0.7% and 8.9% and that the blocking voltage was enhanced. This is attributed to the presence of a stabilized interface between the passivation layer and the SiC due to aging.