Skip to main content
OSTI.GOVU.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information
 

Trap passivation of 4H-SiC/SiO2 interfaces by nitrogen annealing

Journal Article · · Journal of Applied Physics
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0139185· OSTI ID:2424267
 [1];  [2];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [2];  [1];  [1]
  1. Auburn Univ., AL (United States)
  2. Rutgers Univ., Piscataway, NJ (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations
We report an N2 based annealing treatment to passivate interface traps (Dit) in n- and p-type 4H-SiC. The process has the potential to replace the commonly used hazardous and expensive gas nitric oxide (NO). N2 postoxidation annealing reduces Dit in both the upper and lower halves of the 4H-SiC bandgap, with a greater impact at the valence band edge. N2 annealing at 1500 °C is observed to be more effective in passivating traps and positive fixed charges than NO annealing for p-type devices, whereas for n-type devices, the opposite is true. The breakdown voltages for these devices are found to be lower than that of NO annealed devices. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy has been performed to estimate the nitrogen areal density at the interface. Dit is measured as a function of nitrogen areal densities in the near interfacial regions for the different processes. Additionally, theoretical analysis through density functional theory is consistent with the measured Dit profiles by showing the generation of additional states near the valence band edge due to increased nitrogen concentration. In addition to reporting the effect of N2 annealing on both n- and p-type 4H-SiC, this work correlates the nitrogen areal densities at the interface to the Dit and explains the difference in Dit characteristics with nitrogen areal density between n- and p-type interfaces.
Research Organization:
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
AC36-08GO28308
OSTI ID:
2424267
Journal Information:
Journal of Applied Physics, Journal Name: Journal of Applied Physics Journal Issue: 21 Vol. 133; ISSN 0021-8979; ISSN 1089-7550
Publisher:
American Institute of Physics (AIP)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (23)

Nitrogen‐Induced Changes in the Electronic and Structural Properties of 4H‐SiC (0001)/SiO2 Interfaces journal December 2021
Pseudopotentials periodic table: From H to Pu journal December 2014
Interfacial characteristics of N2O and NO nitrided SiO2 grown on SiC by rapid thermal processing journal April 1997
Effects of anneals in ammonia on the interface trap density near the band edges in 4H–silicon carbide metal-oxide-semiconductor capacitors journal November 2000
Effect of nitric oxide annealing on the interface trap density near the conduction bandedge of 4H–SiC at the oxide/(112̄0) 4H–SiC interface journal March 2004
Increase in oxide hole trap density associated with nitrogen incorporation at the SiO2/SiC interface journal June 2008
Atomic state and characterization of nitrogen at the SiC/SiO 2 interface journal January 2014
Silicon carbide: A unique platform for metal-oxide-semiconductor physics journal June 2015
Effect of nitrogen passivation on interface composition and physical stress in SiO2/SiC(4H) structures journal September 2018
Anomalous band alignment change of SiO2/4H–SiC (0001) and (000–1) MOS capacitors induced by NO-POA and its possible origin journal March 2020
High temperature characteristics of nitric oxide annealed p-channel 4H-SiC metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors journal December 2021
Advanced capabilities for materials modelling with Quantum ESPRESSO journal October 2017
Special points for Brillouin-zone integrations journal June 1976
Generalized Gradient Approximation Made Simple journal October 1996
Nitrogen Incorporation at Si ( 001 ) − SiO 2 Interfaces: Relation between N 1 s Core-Level Shifts and Microscopic Structure journal December 1997
Power consumption estimation in CMOS VLSI chips journal June 1994
Excellent effects of hydrogen postoxidation annealing on inversion channel mobility of 4H-SiC MOSFET fabricated on (11 2 0) face journal January 2002
P-Channel MOSFETs on 4H-SiC {0001} and Nonbasal Faces Fabricated by Oxide Deposition and $\hbox{N}_{2}\hbox{O}$ Annealing journal September 2009
Threshold Voltage Instability in 4H-SiC MOSFETs With Phosphorus-Doped and Nitrided Gate Oxides journal February 2015
Improvement of Both n- and p-Channel Mobilities in 4H-SiC MOSFETs by High-Temperature N₂ Annealing journal February 2021
Electrical Properties of 4H-Silicon Carbide Complementary Metal–Oxide–Semiconductor Devices with Wet-Processed Gate Oxide journal April 2009
Reliability of Nitrided Gate Oxides for N- and P-Type 4H-SiC(0001) Metal–Oxide–Semiconductor Devices journal September 2011
Study of Carrier Mobilities in 4H-SiC MOSFETS Using Hall Analysis journal September 2022

Similar Records

The Effects of Nitrogen on the Interface State Density Near the Conduction Band Edge in 4H and 6H-SiC
Conference · Mon Jun 12 00:00:00 EDT 2000 · OSTI ID:771405
Passivation of Oxide Layers on 4H-SiC Using Sequential Anneals in Nitric Oxide and Hydrogen
Conference · Wed Dec 31 23:00:00 EST 2003 · OSTI ID:978128
Study of SiO{sub 2}/4H-SiC interface nitridation by post-oxidation annealing in pure nitrogen gas
Journal Article · Tue Sep 15 00:00:00 EDT 2015 · AIP Advances · OSTI ID:22492351

Related Subjects

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
Physics