Four-fold improvement of 3C-SiC PN junction diode blocking voltage obtained through improved CVD epitaxy on low-tilt-angle 6H-SiC wafers

In this work we report on the growth, fabrication, and initial electrical characterization of greatly improved 3C-SiC pn junction diodes. These diodes, which were grown on commercially available 6H-SiC wafers by an improved SiC chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process, demonstrate rectification to 200 V at room temperature. This represents a greater than 4-fold improvement in reported 3C-SiC diode blocking voltage. Under sufficient forward bias, the diodes emit a green-yellow light, which to the best of the authors' knowledge is the first report of a significantly bright CVD-grown 3C-SiC light emitting diode. The reverse leakage currents and forward saturation current densities measured on these diodes also show significant improvement compared to previously reported CVD-grown 3C-SiC pn junction diodes. The vastly improved diode characteristics are directly attributable to improvements in the 3C-SiC CVD growth process which have increased crystal purity, eliminated double-positioning-boundary (DPB) defects, and greatly reduced stacking fault densities. These results should lead to substantial advancements in the capabilities and performance of most single-crystal 3C-SiC electrical devices.<
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