We report the performance of a bipolar epitaxial graphene (EG)/p-SiC/n+-SiC UV phototransistor fabricated with a Schottky (EG)/SiC junction grown using a SiF4 precursor. The phototransistor showed responsivity as high as 25 A/W at 250 nm in the Schottky emitter (SE) mode. The Schottky collector (SC) mode showed a responsivity of 17 A/W at 270 nm with a visible rejection (270 nm:400 nm)>103. The fastest response was seen in the SC-mode, with 10 ms turn-on and 47 ms turn-off, with a noise equivalent power of 2.3 fW at 20 Hz and a specific detectivity of 4.4 × 1013 Jones. The high responsivity is due to internal gain from bipolar action. We observe additional avalanche gain from the device periphery in the SC-mode by scanning photocurrent microscopy but not in the SE-mode. This high-performance visible-blind photodetector is attractive for advanced applications such as flame detection.

We report high quality homoepitaxial growth on nearly on-axis () 4H-SiC substrates by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) using Tetrafluorosilane and Propane as Si and C-precursors, respectively. N-type unintentional doping (10 17 cm-3 to 10 14 cm-3) was obtained for 0.62.0, a linear dependence on C-flow is established, with a return to stepmediated growth, shown by the surface morphology (RMS roughness~1nm), and high polytype uniformity from Raman at high R g-14um/hr. These two behaviors were ascribed to a decrease in the etch rate of SiC by SiF 4 with increasing C/Si due to C-aided decomposition of SiF 4 , both of which make available a greater amount of elemental Si at the surface, thereby suppressing spiral growth. Use of on-axis or near on-axis substrates can eliminate/reduce basal plane dislocations which limit the performance of SiC bipolar electronic devices.

We report a novel approach to grow BPD-free 4H-SiC device-ready epilayers, where we start by growing a thin low-doped buffer layer (5 × 1015 to 1 × 1016 cm–3, N-type) to achieve 100% BPD conversion, followed by a moderately thick (∼10 μm) higher-doped recombination layer (5 × 1016 to 1.6 × 1017 cm–3, N-type) to ensure that all recombination occurs within a BPD-free region. High doping of the BPD-free recombination layer ensures fast carrier recombination under forward bias, preventing any stacking fault nucleation in the active layer during bipolar device operation. All the individual BPDs in the buffer epilayer are converted to benign threading edge dislocations (TEDs) over a wide range of C/Si ratios (1 to 1.8), introducing a minimal on-resistance of <0.5 mΩ-cm2. 100% BPD conversion occurs due to the controlled and highly anisotropic eutectic etching of the buffer layer which produces narrow sector angle (5°) for the BPD etch pits to enable conversion of the BPDs within ∼1.5 μm of epilayer growth into TEDs, by promoting lateral growth at the narrow sector of BPD etch pits. This technique enables the translation of BPD conversion technology to real high-power bipolar device architectures in applications such as electric vehicles and solar power grid compatibility circuitry.

This paper presents one of the first comparative studies of distinctive results obtained using halogenated silicon precursors, dichlorosilane (SiH2Cl2, DCS) and tetrafluorosilane (SiF4, TFS) for SiC homo epitaxial growth. Both TFS and DCS possess very distinct properties that show specific influence on SiC growth. SiC epitaxial growth using TFS greatly suppresses parasitic deposition in the gas delivery system. Growth using TFS shows carbon mediated growth regime, and exhibits controlled doping concentration of the epilayer by an order of magnitude lower than that in the growth using DCS at the same C/Si ratio. Studies of epilayer surface morphology show that the epilayers from TFS growth have a specular surface in a wide C/Si range whereas in the growth using DCS, the epilayer surface roughness is strongly dependent on the C/Si ratio.