Thermal stability of Re Schottky contacts to 6H-SiC

Author

Shalish, I. ; Shapira, Yoram

Author_Institution

Gordon McKay Lab., Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA, USA

Volume

21

Issue

12

fYear

2000

Firstpage

581

Lastpage

583

Abstract

The thermal stability of a 100-nm thick sputter-deposited Re film as contact to 6H-SiC was studied by backscattering spectrometry and by measurements of the forward current-voltage (I-V) characteristic. The initial Schottky barrier height of 0.71 eV and ideality factor of 1.6 change after 2 h of annealing in vacuum at 700/spl deg/C to 1.04 eV and 1.1, respectively. They remain stable after annealing for additional 2 h at that same temperature. The initial change is attributed to a recovery of sputter damage in the SiC. The observed stability of the Schottky barrier is attributed to the thermodynamic stability of Re with SiC, as confirmed by the unchanging backscattering depth profiles. After annealing at 900/spl deg/C, the Schottky barrier becomes unstable although no interaction between the Re film and the SiC substrate is detectable in the depth profiles.

Keywords

Schottky barriers; annealing; particle backscattering; rhenium; semiconductor-metal boundaries; silicon compounds; sputtered coatings; thermal stability; wide band gap semiconductors; 100 nm; 6H-SiC; 700 degC; 900 degC; I-V characteristic; Re-SiC; Schottky barrier height; Schottky contacts; annealing; backscattering depth profiles; backscattering spectrometry; ideality factor; sputter damage; sputter-deposited films; thermal stability; Annealing; Backscatter; Current measurement; Schottky barriers; Silicon carbide; Spectroscopy; Temperature; Thermal stability; Thermodynamics; Thickness measurement;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Electron Device Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0741-3106

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/55.887472

Filename

887472