Ideal Ni-Based 4H–SiC Schottky barrier diodes with Si intercalation

The Ni-based 4H–SiC Schottky barrier diodes (SBDs) with Si intercalation have been investigated. The electrical properties of SBDs are characterized by temperature-dependent current-voltage (I–V) and capacitance-voltage (C–V) measurement. The morphologies of the metal-semiconductor interface are observed by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and atomic force microscope (AFM), respectively, and the elemental compositions are determined by energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS). The current distribution profile and local I–V curves at the interface are measured by conductive AFM. The electric field distribution is simulated by Technology Computer Aided Design (TCAD). The results show that the 500°C-annealed SBDs, with nearly perfect interface morphology, display an ideal Schottky characteristic with the ideality factor (n) of 1.014. In spite of the appearance of a rough interface of the 600°C-annealed SBDs, they still exhibit an ideal characteristic due to maintaining the component uniformity at the interface. The intercalation method can be applied to fabricate the ideal 4H–SiC Schottky diodes.