Schottky Contacts on Sulfurized Silicon Carbide (4H-SiC) Surface

Roccaforte, Fabrizio and Vivona, Marilena and Panasci, Salvatore Ethan and Greco, Giuseppe and Fiorenza, Patrick and Sulyok, Attila and Koós, Antal and Pécz, Béla and Giannazzo, Filippo (2024) Schottky Contacts on Sulfurized Silicon Carbide (4H-SiC) Surface. APPLIED PHYSICS LETTERS, 124 (10). No.-102102. ISSN 0003-6951 (print); 1077-3118 (online)

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Abstract

In this Letter, the effect of a sulfurization treatment carried out at 800 C on silicon carbide (4H-SiC) surface was studied by detailed chemical, morphological, and electrical analyses. In particular, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy confirmed sulfur (S) incorporation in the 4H-SiC surface at 800 C, while atomic force microscopy showed that 4H-SiC surface topography is not affected by this process. Notably, an increase in the 4H-SiC electron affinity was revealed by Kelvin Probe Force Microscopy in the sulfurized sample with respect to the untreated surface. The electrical characterization of Ni/4H-SiC Schottky contacts fabricated on sulfurized 4H-SiC surfaces revealed a significant reduction (0.3 eV) and a narrower distribution of the average Schottky barrier height with respect to the reference untreated sample. This effect was explained in terms of a Fermi level pinning effect induced by surface S incorporation.

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