Dependence of Silicon Carbide Radiation Resistance on the Irradiation Temperature

Abstract

The effect of high-temperature electron and proton irradiation on the characteristics of devices based on SiC has been studied. For the study, industrial 4H-SiC integrated Schottky diodes with an n-type base with a blocking voltage of 600, 1200, and 1700 V manufactured by CREE are used. Irradiation is carried out by electrons with an energy of 0.9 MeV and protons with an energy of 15 MeV. It is found that the radiation resistance of SiC Schottky diodes under high-temperature irradiation significantly exceeds the resistance of diodes under irradiation at room temperature. It is shown that this effect arises due to the annealing of compensating radiation defects under high-temperature irradiation. It is revealed that this effect arises due to the annealing of compensating radiation defects under high-temperature irradiation. The parameters of radiation defects are determined by the method of transient capacitance spectroscopy. Under high-temperature (“hot”) irradiation, the spectrum of radiation-induced defects introduced into SiC differs significantly from the spectrum of defects introduced at room temperature. The radiation resistance of silicon and silicon carbide is compared. The relatively small difference in the rate of carrier removal in SiC and Si upon irradiation at room temperature is due to the fact that in SiC, in contrast to Si, there is practically no annealing of primary radiation defects during irradiation.