skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Temperature-dependent analysis of conduction mechanism of leakage current in thermally grown oxide on 4H-SiC

Journal Article · · Journal of Applied Physics
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4905916· OSTI ID:22412836
;  [1]; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;  [1]
  1. Advanced Power Electronics Research Center, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), 1-1-1 Umezono, Tsukuba, 305-8568 Ibaraki (Japan)

The conduction mechanism of the leakage current of a thermally grown oxide on 4H silicon carbide (4H-SiC) was investigated. The dominant carriers of the leakage current were found to be electrons by the carrier-separation current-voltage method. The current-voltage and capacitance-voltage characteristics, which were measured over a wide temperature range, revealed that the leakage current in SiO{sub 2}/4H-SiC on the Si-face can be explained as the sum of the Fowler-Nordheim (FN) tunneling and Poole-Frenkel (PF) emission leakage currents. A rigorous FN analysis provided the true barrier height for the SiO{sub 2}/4H-SiC interface. On the basis of Arrhenius plots of the PF current separated from the total leakage current, the existence of carbon-related defects and/or oxygen vacancy defects was suggested in thermally grown SiO{sub 2} films on the Si-face of 4H-SiC.

OSTI ID:
22412836
Journal Information:
Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 117, Issue 2; Other Information: (c) 2015 Author(s); Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0021-8979
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English