Advancing Silicon Carbide Electronics Technology I

Book excerpt: The rapidly advancing Silicon Carbide technology has a great potential in high temperature and high frequency electronics. High thermal stability and outstanding chemical inertness make SiC an excellent material for high-power, low-loss semiconductor devices. The present volume presents the state of the art of SiC device fabrication and characterization. Topics covered include: SiC surface cleaning and etching techniques; electrical characterization methods and processing of ohmic contacts to silicon carbide; analysis of contact resistivity dependence on material properties; limitations and accuracy of contact resistivity measurements; ohmic contact fabrication and test structure design; overview of different metallization schemes and processing technologies; thermal stability of ohmic contacts to SiC, their protection and compatibility with device processing; Schottky contacts to SiC; Schottky barrier formation; Schottky barrier inhomogeneity in SiC materials; technology and design of 4H-SiC Schottky and Junction Barrier Schottky diodes; Si/SiC heterojunction diodes; applications of SiC Schottky diodes in power electronics and temperature/light sensors; high power SiC unipolar and bipolar switching devices; different types of SiC devices including material and technology constraints on device performance; applications in the area of metal contacts to silicon carbide; status and prospects of SiC power devices.