NiCrSi-Ag contacts on SiC for elevated temperatures

Abstract

Silicon carbide is one of the most promising materials for high temperature electronics. Nowadays there is a demand for devices which could work in harsh environment conditions, both for sensors applications and everyday electronics, because of no need for cooling systems. Wide band-gap semiconductors seem to be ideal for this field of electronics. However stable and good quality ohmic contacts for those materials are still a major problem because of width of the band gap, but also role of surface states and interface reactions. In this paper thin film contact systems NiCrSi-Ag for SiC:Zr is presented. The main concern is an electrical behavior after temperature treatment up to 900 K and changes in structure of contact. An analysis of damages in contacts is an important problem, as it helps in improving the technology and the conception of structure. Additionally there are discussed possibilities of future improvements. Finding a way of forming effective, stable contacts for high temperature applications will have consequences for all wide band-gap semiconductors applications.