Ohmic contacts to n-type 4H- and 6H-SiC without postdeposition annealing were achieved using an interlayer of epitaxial InN beneath a layer of Ti. The InN films were grown by reactive dc magnetron sputtering at 450°C, whereas the Ti films were deposited by electron-beam evaporation at room temperature. The InN films were characterized by x-ray diffraction (XRD), secondary electron microscopy (SEM), cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and Hall-effect measurements. Both XRD and TEM observations revealed that the Ti and InN films have epitaxial relationships with the 6H-SiC substrate as follows: (0001)[\( 11\bar 20 \)]Ti∥(0001)[\( 11\bar 20 \)]InN∥(0001)[\( 11\bar 20 \)]6H-SiC. The Ti/InN/SiC contacts displayed ohmic behavior, whereas Ti/SiC contacts (without an InN interlayer) were nonohmic. These results suggest that InN reduces the Schottky barrier height at the SiC surface via a small conduction-band offset and support previous reports of an electron accumulation layer at the surface of InN.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Capano M.A., Trew R.J. (1997) MRS Bull. 22:19
Trew R.J., Yan J.-B., Mock P.M. (1991) Proc. IEEE 79:598
Cooper J.A. Jr., Melloch M.R., Singh R., Agarwal A., Palmour J.W. (2002) IEEE Trans. Electron. Dev. 49:658
G.A. Slack, J. Appl. Phys. 35, 3460 (1964)
Crofton J., McMullin P.G., Williams J.R., Bozack M.J. (1995) J. Appl. Phys. 77:1317
Rastegaeva M.G., Andreev A.N., Petrov A.A. (1997) Mater. Sci. Eng. B 46:254
Kakanakova-Georgieva A., Marinova T., Noblanc O. (1999) Thin Solid Films 343:637
Han S.Y., Shin J.Y., Lee B.T. (2002) J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B 20:1496
Kurimoto E., Harima H., Toda T. (2002) J. Appl. Phys. 91:10215
Madsen L.D., Svedberg E.B., Radamson H.H., Hallin C., Jorvarsson B.H. (2000) Mater. Sci. Forum 338:981
Marinova T., Yakimova R., Krastev V. (1996) J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B 14:3252
Cole M.W., Joshi P.C., Hubbard C.W. (2000) J. Appl. Phys. 88:2652
Shen T.C., Gao G.B., Morkoc H. (1992) J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B 10:2113
Leech P.W., Reeves G.K. (1994) Mater. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc. 318:183
Dandrea R.G., Duke C.B. (1994) Appl. Phys. Lett. 64:2145
Lin M.E., Huang F.Y., Morkoc H. (1994) Appl. Phys. Lett. 64:2557
Abernathy C.R., Pearton S.J., Ren F., Wisk P.W. (1993) J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B 11:179
Lu H., Schaff W.J., Eastman L.F., Stutz C.E. (2003) Appl. Phys. Lett. 82:1736
Mahboob I., Veal T.D., McConville C.F., Lu H., Schaff W.J. (2004) Phys. Rev. Lett. 92:036804.1
Rickert K.A., Ellis A.B., Himpsel F.J., Lu H., Schaff W.J., Redwing J.M., Dwikusuma F., Kuech T.F. (2003) Appl. Phys. Lett. 82:3254
Veal T.D., Mahboob I., Piper L.F.J., McConville C.F., Lu H., Schaff W.J. (2004) J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B 22:2175
Aristov V.Y., Zhilin V.M., Grupp C., Taleb-lbrahimi A., Kim H.J., Mangat P.S., Soukiassian P., Le Lay G. (2000) Appl. Surf. Sci. 166:263
Guo Q.X., Okada A., Kidera H., Tanaka T., Nishio M., Ogawa H. (2002) J. Cryst. Growth 237:1032
Kistenmacher T.J., Ecelberger S.A., Bryden W.A., (1993) J. Appl. Phys. 74:1684
Qian Z.G., Shen W.Z., Ogawa H., Guo Q.X. (2002) J. Appl. Phys. 92:3683
D.K. Schroder, Semiconductor Material and Device Characterization, 2nd edn. (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1998). pp. 138–159
Porter L.M., Davis R.F., Bow J.S., Kim M.J., Carpenter R.W. (1995) J. Mater. Res. 10:668
“Powder Diffraction File,” compiled by the International Center for Diffraction Data, Newtown Square, PA, http://www.icdd.com, 1993
Yeh C.Y., Lu Z.W., Froyen S., Zunger A. (1992) Phys. Rev. B 46:10086
Tairov Y.M., Tsvetkov V.F., in Progress in Crystal Growth and Characterization 7, ed. P. Krishna (New York: Pergamon, 1983), pp. 111–143
Cree Research, Durham, NC
Porter L.M., Davis R.F., Bow J.S., Kim M.J., Carpenter R.W., Glass R.C. (1995) J. Mater. Res. 10:668
Matsuoka T., Okamoto H., Nakao M., Harima H., Kurimoto E. (2002) Appl. Phys. Lett. 81:1246
Wu J., Walukiewicz W., Yu K.M., III J.W.A., Haller E.E., Lu H., Schaff W.J., Saito Y., Nanishi Y. (2002) Appl. Phys. Lett. 80:3967
King S.W., Davis R.F., Ronning C., Benjamin M.C., Nemanich R.J. (1999) J. Appl. Phys. 86:4483
King S.W., Ronning C., Davis R.F., Benjamin M.C., Nemanich R.J. (1998) J. Appl. Phys. 84:2086
CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, 86th ed. (New York: CRC Press, 2005), p. 12-114
Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge the research support from the National Science Foundation (Grant Nos. ECS-9875186 and DMR-0354939). The films in this study were grown using equipment funded by the National Science Foundation (Grant No. DMR-9802917). Valuable discussions with Dr. Kumar Das, Tuskegee University, are also greatly appreciated.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Mohammad, F.A., Cao, Y. & Porter, L.M. Characterization of Epitaxial Indium Nitride Interlayers for Ohmic Contacts to Silicon Carbide. J. Electron. Mater. 36, 312–317 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-006-0083-3
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-006-0083-3