Characteristics of Ni-based ohmic contacts on n-type 4H-SiC using different annealing methods

Abstract

Nickel is an excellent ohmic-contact metal on 4H-SiC. This paper discusses the formation mechanism of nickel ohmic contact on 4H-SiC by assessing the electrical properties and microstructural change. Under high-temperature annealing, the phase of nickel-silicon compound can be observed with X-ray diffraction, and the contact resistance also changes. A comparative experiment was designed to use X-ray diffraction and energy-dispersive spectroscopy to clarify the difference of ohmic-contact material composition and elemental analysis between samples prepared using pulsed laser annealing and rapid thermal annealing. It is found that more Ni2Si and carbon vacancies formed at the interface in the sample prepared using pulsed laser annealing, resulting in a better ohmic-contact characteristic.