Recrystallization effects of swift heavy 209Bi ions irradiation on electrical degradation in 4H-SiC Schottky barrier diode

In this paper, the phenomenon that the recrystallization effects of swift heavy 209Bi ions irradiation can partially recovery damage with more than 1 × 1010 ions/cm2 is investigated by the degradation of the electrical characteristics of 4H-SiC Schottky barrier diode (SBD) with swift heavy ion irradiation. Deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) and Current-Voltage (I-V) measurements clearly indicated that E0.62 defect induced by swift heavy ion irradiation, which was a recombination center, could result in the increase of reverse leakage current (IR) at fluence less than 1 × 109 ions/cm2 and the recovery of IR at fluence more than 1 × 1010 ions/cm2 in 4H-SiC SBD. The variation tendency of IR is consisted with the change of E0.62 defect. Furthermore, it is reasonable explanation that the damage or defect formed at low fluence in SiC may be recovered by further swift heavy ion irradiation with high fluence, which is due to the melting with the ion tracks of the amorphous zones through a thermal spike and subsequent epitaxial recrystallization initiated from the neighboring crystalline regions.