Silicon carbide: A unique platform for metal-oxide-semiconductor physics
- Institute for Advanced Materials, Devices and Nanotechnology, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854 (United States)
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee 37235 (United States)
- Department of Physics, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama 36849 (United States)
A sustainable energy future requires power electronics that can enable significantly higher efficiencies in the generation, distribution, and usage of electrical energy. Silicon carbide (4H-SiC) is one of the most technologically advanced wide bandgap semiconductor that can outperform conventional silicon in terms of power handling, maximum operating temperature, and power conversion efficiency in power modules. While SiC Schottky diode is a mature technology, SiC power Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistors are relatively novel and there is large room for performance improvement. Specifically, major initiatives are under way to improve the inversion channel mobility and gate oxide stability in order to further reduce the on-resistance and enhance the gate reliability. Both problems relate to the defects near the SiO{sub 2}/SiC interface, which have been the focus of intensive studies for more than a decade. Here we review research on the SiC MOS physics and technology, including its brief history, the state-of-art, and the latest progress in this field. We focus on the two main scientific problems, namely, low channel mobility and bias temperature instability. The possible mechanisms behind these issues are discussed at the device physics level as well as the atomic scale, with the support of published physical analysis and theoretical studies results. Some of the most exciting recent progress in interface engineering for improving the channel mobility and fundamental understanding of channel transport is reviewed.
- OSTI ID:
- 22483210
- Journal Information:
- Applied Physics Reviews, Vol. 2, Issue 2; Other Information: (c) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1931-9401
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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