Influence of ion implantation and high temperature Ar annealing on carrier lifetime in n-type 4H-SiC epilayers

Al ion implantation and high temperature Ar annealing was performed on 40μm n-type 4° off-axis 4H-SiC (0001) epilayers. Minority carrier lifetime was measured by Semilabs WT-2000 microwave photoconductive decay. A Bruker D8 Discover diffractometer was used for the high-resolution X-ray diffraction measurements. The minority carrier lifetime of 4H-SiC epilayers undergoing Al ion implantation is reduced about 1 μs. However, after high temperature annealling, the carrier lifetime in the non-implanted, as-implanted 4H-SiC regions is completely different. In addition, the influence of ion implantation and high temperature Ar annealing on carrier lifetime is investigated from the perspective of lattice mismatch, basal plane bending and the concentration of V
_c
- related point defects.