With low energy electron irradiation in the 80–250keV range, we were able to create only those intrinsic defects related to the initial displacements of carbon atoms in the silicon carbide lattice. Radiation induced majority and minority carrier traps were analyzed using capacitance transient techniques. Four electron traps (EH1, Z1∕Z2, EH3, and EH7) and one hole trap (HS2) were detected in the measured temperature range. Their concentrations show linear increase with the irradiation dose, indicating that no divacancies or di-interstitials are generated. None of the observed defects was found to be an intrinsic defect–impurity complex. The energy dependence of the defect introduction rates and annealing behavior are presented and possible microscopic models for the defects are discussed. No further defects were detected for electron energies above the previously assigned threshold for the displacement of the silicon atom at 250keV.

The authors report a significant reduction in deep level defects and improvement of carrier lifetime in 4H-SiC material after carrying out carbon or silicon ion implantation into the shallow surface layer of 250nm and subsequent annealing at 1600°C or higher temperature. Reduction of Z1∕2 and EH6∕7 traps from 3×1013cm−3 to below the detection limit (5×1011cm−3) was observed by deep level transient spectroscopy in the material 4μm underneath the implanted layer. Minority carrier lifetime almost doubled in the implanted samples compared to the unimplanted samples. The authors propose that the implanted layer acts as a source of carbon interstitials which indiffuse during annealing and accelerate annealing out of grown-in defects in the layer underneath the implanted region.

We have studied intrinsic and impurity related defects in silicon carbide (SiC) epilayers grown with fast epitaxy using chemical vapor deposition in a vertical hot-wall reactor. Using capacitance transient techniques, we have detected low concentrations of electron traps (denoted as Z1/2, EH6/7 and titanium) and hole traps (denoted as HS1 and shallow boron) in the n-type 4H–SiC epilayers. The concentration of intrinsic defects (Z1/2, EH6/7, and HS1 centers) increases with increasing growth temperature. The incorporation of shallow boron (B) decreases at higher growth temperatures, whereas the titanium (Ti) concentration is not sensitive to the growth temperature. The concentration of shallow B and Ti increases with increasing C/Si ratio. The concentration of the EH6/7 and the HS1 centers however, decreases with increasing C/Si ratio. We have also tested graphite susceptors with TaC or SiC coating and observed that the purity of the susceptor material plays a critical role in reducing the background impurity incorporation. The correlation with the carrier lifetime of these epilayers indicates that the EH6/7 and the Z1/2 centers may be the lifetime limiting defects in the investigated epilayers.

The authors investigated the application of the carbon-implantation/annealing method for the annealing of the main lifetime limiting defect Z1∕2 in thick 4H–SiC epilayers. Examination of different implantation doses and annealing temperatures showed that finding the optimum conditions is crucial for obtaining thick layers with carrier trap concentration below 1011cm−3 in the whole 100μm epilayer. The carrier lifetime increased from less than 200ns to over 1μs at room temperature in the samples annealed with the carbon-implanted layer. The thick 4H–SiC epilayers after the application of the carbon-implantation/annealing were confirmed to be applicable for fabrication of high-voltage bipolar devices and resulted in improved conductivity modulation. Possible annealing mechanisms are discussed in detail making a comparison between annealing of as-grown material and irradiated material.

A vertical hot-wall epi-reactor that makes it possible to simultaneously achieve a high growth rate and large-area uniformity has been developed. A maximum growth rate of 250 µm/h is achieved with a mirror-like morphology at 1650 °C. Under a modified epi-reactor setup, a thickness uniformity of 1.1% and a doping uniformity of 6.7% for a 65-mm-radius area are achieved while maintaining a high growth rate of 79 µm/h. A low doping concentration of ∼1×1013 cm-3 is obtained for a 50-mm-radius area. The low-temperature photoluminescence (LTPL) spectrum shows the predominance of free exciton peaks with only few impurity-related peaks and the L1 peak below detection limit. The deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) measurement for an epilayer grown at 80 µm/h shows low trap concentrations of Z1/2: 1.2×1012 and EH6/7: 6.3×1011 cm-3. A 280-µm-thick epilayer with a RMS roughness of 0.2 nm and a carrier lifetime of ∼1 µs is obtained.