Effects of annealing temperature on the degree of inhomogeneity of nickel-silicide/SiC Schottky barrier

Abstract

The electrical characteristics of nickel-silicide Schottky contacts on silicon carbide have been measured by using current-voltage technique in the temperature range of 120–700K. Thermal annealing at 873K formed the nickel silicide. The electrical behavior of the contact showed a deviation from linearity at low temperatures. Annealing at high temperature (1223K) produces deep modifications in the electrical characteristics at low bias and low temperatures, which are consistent with the formation of an inhomogeneous barrier. The description of the experimental results by using Tung’s model [R. T. Tung, Phys. Rev. B 45, 13509 (1992)] allowed us to determine the values of the average barrier height of 1.62 and 1.14eV for the diode annealed at 873 and 1223K, respectively.

Heavy Ion Induced Degradation in SiC Schottky Diodes: Bias and Energy Deposition Dependence

“…Annealing [6] and ion irradiation [7] have both been studied. The annealing temperatures examined are well within the temperatures TCAD simulations show at the metal (Ti) -semiconductor (4H-SiC) interface.…”

Kinetic study of interfacial solid state reactions in the Ni/4H–SiC contact

“…However the metallurgical processes in Ni/SiC interface at elevated temperature limits its reliability and causes subsequent devices degradation. The reaction between Ni and SiC after deposition of Ni on the SiC surface results in the yield of nickel silicides particles located at the attacked surface of SiC and the graphitization and texturisation of the reaction layer [5,[15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22].…”

Graphite/SiC junctions and their electrical characteristics

“…by different deposition techniques . In most cases the SiC Schottky diodes exhibit non‐linear behavior and reveal an abnormal variation of the barrier height and ideality factor with temperature . Such behavior is often explained by inhomogeneous metal semiconductor interfaces.…”