The Fundamental Current Mechanisms in SiC Schottky Barrier Diodes: Physical Model, Experimental Verification and Implications

In this paper, we derive the equations for the current-voltage characteristics of SiC Schottky barrier diodes from the fundamental physics of thermionic emission and tunneling, as the two fundamental current mechanisms. An excellent fit between the model and the experimental data is achieved without the need for empirical fitting parameters, such as the commonly used ideality factor, and with a single set of physically meaningful parameters. This result shows that the current transport in the measured SiC Schottky diodes is not dominated by defects.