Characteristics and mechanisms of subthreshold voltage hysteresis in 4H-SiC MOSFETs

In order to investigate the characteristics and mechanisms of subthreshold voltage hysteresis(ΔV_(th,sub)) of 4 H-SiC metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors(MOSFETs),4 H-SiC planar and trench MOSFETs and corresponding P-type planar and trench metal-oxide-semiconductor(MOS) capacitors are fabricated and characterized.Compared with planar MOSFEF,the trench MOSFET shows hardly larger ΔV_(th,sub) in wide temperature range from 25 0 C to 300 0 C.When operating temperature range is from 25 ℃ to 300 ℃,the off-state negative V_(gs) of planar and trench MOSFETs should be safely above-4 V and-2 V,respectively,to alleviate the effect of ΔV_(th,sub) on the normal operation.With the help of P-type planar and trench MOS capacitors,it is confirmed that the obvious ΔV_(th,sub) of 4 H-SiC MOSFET originates from the high density of the hole interface traps between intrinsic Fermi energy level(E_(i)) and valence band(E_(v)).The maximumΔV_(th,sub) of trench MOSFET is about twelve times larger than that of planar MOSFET,owing to higher density of interface states(D_(it)) between E_(i) and E_(v).These research results will be very helpful for the application of 4 H-SiC MOSFET and the improvement of ΔV_(th,sub) of 4 H-SiC MOSFET,especially in 4 H-SiC trench MOSFET.

Passivation of carbon dimer defects in amorphous SiO_2/4H–SiC(0001) interface:A first-principles study

An amorphous SiO2/4 H–Si C（0001） interface model with carbon dimer defects is established based on density functional theory of the first-principle plane wave pseudopotential method.The structures of carbon dimer defects after passivation by H2 and NO molecules are established,and the interface states before and after passivation are calculated by the Heyd–Scuseria–Ernzerhof（HSE06） hybrid functional scheme.Calculation results indicate that H2 can be adsorbed on the O2–C = C–O2 defect and the carbon–carbon double bond is converted into a single bond.However,H2 cannot be adsorbed on the O2–（C = C）′ –O2 defect.The NO molecules can be bonded by N and C atoms to transform the carbon–carbon double bonds,thereby passivating the two defects.This study shows that the mechanism for the passivation of Si O2/4 H–SiC（0001） interface carbon dimer defects is to convert the carbon–carbon double bonds into carbon dimers.Moreover,some intermediate structures that can be introduced into the interface state in the band gap should be avoided.