The effect of the interfacial states by swift heavy ion induced atomic migration in 4H-SiC Schottky barrier diodes

The effects of the atomic migration between metal and semiconductor by swift heavy ion (SHI) irradiation on the turn on voltage (Von), ideality factor (n) and Schottky barrier height (SBH) in 4H-SiC Schottky barrier diodes (SBD) have been researched. The results show that the n decreases and SBH increases for 4H-SiC SBDs without irradiation and with 5 × 109 ions/cm2 at increasing testing temperature. After irradiation, the Von and SBH of the sample increases due to the forming of higher barrier height TiSix by annealing treatment at 873 K. The SHI and annealing treatment can make the deep level defect to be partly recovered. The results may be explained that the interfacial structure was modified due to the silicon and carbon atomic migration during SHI process at the interfacial region between metal and semiconductor, and then reacting at high temperature annealing treatment.