Hostname: page-component-6bf8c574d5-t27h7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-02-15T10:30:09.800Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Imaging Of Micropipes In Silicon Carbide Under High Field Stress

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 February 2011

G. Gradinaru ,
M. Helmi ,
Y. Khlebnikov ,
G. Korony ,
W. C. Mitchel  and
T. S. Sudarshan
G. Gradinaru
Affiliation:
ECE Department, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, sudarsha@ece.sc.edu
M. Helmi
Affiliation:
ECE Department, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, sudarsha@ece.sc.edu
Y. Khlebnikov
Affiliation:
ECE Department, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, sudarsha@ece.sc.edu
G. Korony
Affiliation:
ECE Department, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, sudarsha@ece.sc.edu
W. C. Mitchel
Affiliation:
Wright-Patterson AFB, WL/MLPO Bldg. 651, 3005 P st Ste 6, OH 45433-7707
T. S. Sudarshan
Affiliation:
ECE Department, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, sudarsha@ece.sc.edu
Get access

Abstract

A new technique for investigation of the electrical effects of micropipes in single-crystal 6H-SiC is presented. The setup allows the application of a parallel or normal electric field to MSM (metal-semiconductor-metal) test structures and the visualization of light emission sites in the test gap, including light activity underneath the metal contact. A special transparent metal [indium-tin-oxide(ITO)] was chosen for the metallic contacts. A map of micropipe locations was initially obtained at zero applied field using a laser scattering method. The initial map is compared with that of light emissions at different applied fields.

Several tests on undoped and vanadium-doped (compensated) SiC, using NiCr/Au or ITO contacts, indicated the rapid activation of micropipes at relatively low fields in vertical MSM devices. A good match between the laser imaging map of micropipes at zero field and the map of field-induced light emission sites indicates that micropipes are the main current paths in vertical devices, carrying a large current density, and leading to light emissions and partial or total bulk breakdown of the test device.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 442: Symposium E – Defects in Electronic Materials II , 1996 , 643
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1997

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Davis, R. F., Proceedings of the Fifth Conference on Silicon Carbide and Related Materials (Washington, DC, 1993), p. 7.Google Scholar
2. Powell, J. A., Neudeck, P. G., Larkin, D. J., Yang, J. W, and Pirouz, P., Proceedings of the Fifth Conference on Silicon Carbide and Related Materials (Washington, DC, 1993), p. 161.Google Scholar
3. Neudeck, P. G., and Powell, J. A., IEEE Electron Dev. Lett. 15, 63 (1994).Google Scholar
4. Neudeck, P. G., Larkin, D. J., Salupo, C. S., Powell, J. A., and Matus, L. G., op. cit., p. 475.Google Scholar
5. Matus, L. G., Powell, J. A., and Salupo, C. S., Appl. Phys. Lett. 59, 1770 (1991).Google Scholar
6. Gradinaru, G. and Sudarshan, T. S., J. Appl. Phys. 73, 7643 (1993).Google Scholar
7. Sudarshan, T. S., Gradinaru, G., Korony, G., Mitchel, W., and Hopkins, R. H., J. Electr. Mat. 25, 893 (1996).Google Scholar
8. Hobgood, H. M., Barett, D. L., McHugh, J. P., Clarke, R. C., Sriram, S., Burk, A. A., Greggi, J., Brandt, C. D., Hopkins, R. H., and Choyke, W. J., J. Cryst. Growth 137, 181 (1994).Google Scholar
9. Gradinaru, G., Madangarli, V. P., and Sudarshan, T. S., IEEE Trans. Electron Devices 41, 1233 (1994).Google Scholar
10. Gradinaru, G. and Sudarshan, T. S., J. Appl. Phys. 79, 8557 (1996).Google Scholar
11. Madangarli, V. P., Korony, G., Gradinaru, G., and Sudarshan, T. S., IEEE Trans. Electron Devices 43, 793 (1996).Google Scholar
12. Glass, R. C., Kjellberg, L. O., Tsvetkov, V. F., Sundgren, J. E., and Janzen, E., J. Cryst. Growth 132, 504 (1993).Google Scholar