Fabrication and Characterization of a Silicon Carbide Based Schottky Barrier Diode

Abstract

In this work, we report the fabrication and characterization of a Schottky diode containing a metal–semiconductor Schottky junction. The metal–semiconductor Schottky contact was formed using nickel (Ni) as the metal and silicon carbide (4H-SiC) as the semiconducting material. The metal–semiconductor Schottky diode array was fabricated on 350-μm-thick 4H-SiC (0001) substrates. The Schottky contact was formed using Ni, and a triple layer of Ti/Pt/Au was used for the ohmic contact. Deposition of Ni-Cr alloy on 4H-SiC was carried out to improve the adhesion at the metal–semiconductor interface. Based on the current–voltage (I–V) characteristics, the device output parameter values for turn-on voltage, forward current at 5 V, reverse saturation current, barrier height (φB) and ideality factor (η) were 1 V, 2.57 mA, 652 nA, 0.935 eV and 1.296, respectively. A band diagram is proposed to explain the charge transport phenomena.