• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2006.11a
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• pp.207-207
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• 2006

We investigated the effects of hydrogen addition to the growth process of SiC single crystal using sublimation physical vapor transport(PVT) techniques. Hydrogen was periodically added to an inert gas for the growth ambient during the SiC bulk growth Grown 2"-SiC single crystals were proven to be the polytype of 6H-SiC and carrier concentration levels of about $10^{17}/cm^3$ was determined from Hall measurements. As compared to the characteristics of SiC crystal grown without using hydrogen addition, the SiC crystal without definitely exhibited lower carrier concentration and lower microplpe density as well as reduced growth rate.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2010.06a
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• pp.350-350
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• 2010

Silicon carbide (SiC), one of the well known wide band gap semiconductors, shows high thermal conductivities, chemical inertness and breakdown energies. The design of normally-off 4H-SiC VJFETs [1] has been reported and 4H-SiC VJFETs with different lateral JFET channel opening dimensions have been studied [2]. In this work, 4H-SiC based VJFETs has been designed using the device simulator (ATLAS, Silvaco Data System, Inc). We varied the n-epi layer thickness (from $6\;{\mu}m$ to $10\;{\mu}m$) and the channel width (from $0.9\;{\mu}m$ to $1.2\;{\mu}m$), and investigated the static characteristics as blocking voltages, threshold voltages, on-resistances. We have shown that silicon carbide JFET structures of highly intensified blocking voltages with optimized figures of merit can thus be achieved by adjusting the epi layer thickness and channel width.

• Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.387-392
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• 2018

Static characteristics of SiC (silicon carbide) lateral p-i-n diodes implemented on semi-insulating substrate without an epitaxial layer are inVestigated. On-axis SiC HPSI (high purity semi-insulating) and VDSI (Vanadium doped semi-insulating) substrates are used to fabricate the lateral p-i-n diode. The space between anode and cathode ($L_{AC}$) is Varied from 5 to $20{\mu}m$ to inVestigate the effect of intrinsic-region length on static characteristics. Maximum breakdown Voltages of HPSI and VDSI are 1117 and 841 V at $L_{AC}=20{\mu}m$, respectiVely. Due to the doped Vanadium ions in VDSI substrate, diffusion length of carriers in the VDSI substrate is less than that of the HPSI substrate. A forward Voltage drop of the diode implemented on VDSI substrate is 12 V at the forward current of $1{\mu}A$, which is higher than 2.5 V of the diode implemented on HPSI substrate.

• Electronics and Telecommunications Trends
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.1-11
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• 2018

Several industrial applications such as space exploration, aerospace, automotive, the downhole oil and gas industry, and geothermal power plants require specific electronic systems under extremely high temperatures. For the majority of such applications, silicon-based technologies (bulk silicon, silicon-on-insulator) are limited by their maximum operating temperature. Silicon carbide (SiC) has been recognized as one of the prime candidates for providing the desired semiconductor in extremely high-temperature applications. In addition, it has become particularly interesting owing to a Si-compatible process technology for dedicated devices and integrated circuits. This paper briefly introduces a variety of SiC-based integrated circuits for use under extremely high temperatures and covers the technology trend of SiC CMOS devices and processes including the useful implementation of SiC ICs.

• Journal of the Korean Physical Society
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• v.73 no.9
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• pp.1356-1361
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• 2018

Replacing conventional Si diodes with SiC diodes in Si insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) modules is advantageous as it can reduce power losses significantly. Also, the fast switching nature of the SiC diode will allow Si IGBTs to operate at their full high-switching-speed potential, which at present conventional Si diodes cannot do. In this work, the electrical test results for Si-IGBT/4HSiC-Schottky hybrid substrates (hybrid SiC substrates) are presented. These substrates are built for two voltage ratings, 1.7 kV and 3.3 kV. Comparisons of the 1.7 kV and the 3.3 kV Si-IGBT/Si-diode substrates (Si substrates) at room temperature ($20^{\circ}C$, RT) and high temperature ($H125^{\circ}C$, HT) have shown that the switching losses in hybrid SiC substrates are miniscule as compared to those in Si substrates but necessary steps are required to mitigate the ringing observed in the current waveforms. Also, the effect of design variations on the electrical performance of 1.7 kV, 50 A diodes is reported here. These variations are made in the active and termination regions of the device.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.101-105
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• 2024

4H-SiC power metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs) have been developed to achieve lower specific-on-resistance (R_on,sp), and the gate oxides have been thermally grown. The poor channel mobility resulting from the high interface trap density (D_it) at the SiO₂/4H-SiC interface significantly affects the higher switching loss of the power device. Therefore, the development of novel fabrication processes to enhance the quality of the SiO₂/4H-SiC interface is required. In this paper, NO post-oxidation annealing (POA) by using the conditions of N₂ diluted NO at a high temperature (1,300℃) is proposed to reduce the high interface trap density resulting from thermal oxidation. The NO POA is carried out in various NO ambient (0, 10, 50, and 100% NO mixed with 100, 90, 50, and 0% of high purity N₂ gas to achieve the optimized condition while maintaining a high temperature (1,300℃). To confirm the optimized condition of the NO POA, measuring capacitance-voltage (C-V) and current-voltage (I-V), and time-of-flight secondary-ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) are employed. It is confirmed that the POA condition of 50% NO at 1,300℃ facilitates the equilibrium state of both the oxidation and nitridation at the SiO₂/4H-SiC interface, thereby reducing the D_it.

• Advances in nano research
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.23-56
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• 2014

The significant growth of the Si photovoltaic industry has been so far limited due to the high cost of the Si photovoltaic system. In this regard, the most expensive factors are the intrinsic cost of silicon material and the Si solar cell fabrication processes. Conventional Si solar cells have p-n junctions inside for an efficient extraction of light-generated charge carriers. However, the p-n junction is normally formed through very expensive processes requiring very high temperature (${\sim}1000^{\circ}C$). Therefore, several systems are currently under study to form heterojunctions at low temperatures. Among them, carbon nanotube (CNT)/Si hybrid solar cells are very promising, with power conversion efficiency up to 15%. In these cells, the p-type Si layer is replaced by a semitransparent CNT film deposited at room temperature on the n-doped Si wafer, thus giving rise to an overall reduction of the total Si thickness and to the fabrication of a device with cheaper methods at low temperatures. In particular, the CNT film coating the Si wafer acts as a conductive electrode for charge carrier collection and establishes a built-in voltage for separating photocarriers. Moreover, due to the CNT film optical semitransparency, most of the incoming light is absorbed in Si; thus the efficiency of the CNT/Si device is in principle comparable to that of a conventional Si one. In this paper an overview of several factors at the basis of this device operation and of the suggested improvements to its architecture is given. In addition, still open physical/technological issues are also addressed.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2008.06a
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• pp.132-132
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• 2008

Silicon carbide (SiC) is an attractive material for high-power, high-temperature, and high-frequency applications. So far, atomic force microscopy (AFM) has been extensively used to study the surface charges, dielectric constants and electrical potential distribution as well as topography in silicon-based device structures, whereas it has rarely been applied to SiC-based structures. In this work, the surface potential and topography distributions SiC with different doping levels were measured at a nanometer-scale resolution using a scanning kelvin probe force microscopy (SKPM) with a non-contact mode AFM. The measured results were calibrated using a Pt-coated tip and a metal defined electrical contacts of Au onto SiC. It is assumed that the atomically resolved surface potential difference does not originate from the intrinsic work function of the materials but reflects the local electron density on the surface. It was found that the work function of the Au deposited on SiC surface was higher than that of original SiC surface. The dependence of the surface potential on the doping levels in SiC, as well as the variation of surface potential with respect to the schottky barrier height has been investigated. The results confirm the concept of the work function and the barrier heights of metal/SiC structures.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.111-115
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• 2024

Silicon carbide (SiC) has emerged as a promising material for next-generation power semiconductor materials, due to its high thermal conductivity and high critical electric field (~3 MV/cm) with a wide bandgap of 3.3 eV. This permits SiC devices to operate at lower on-resistance and higher breakdown voltage. However, to improve device performance, advanced research is still needed to reduce point defects in the SiC epitaxial layer. This work investigated the electrical characteristics and defect properties using DLTS analysis. Four deep level defects generated by the implantation process and during epitaxial layer growth were detected. Trap parameters such as energy level, capture-cross section, trap density were obtained from an Arrhenius plot. To investigate the impact of defects on the device, a 2D TCAD simulation was conducted using the same device structure, and the extracted defect parameters were added to confirm electrical characteristics. The degradation of device performance such as an increase in on-resistance by adding trap parameters was confirmed.

• Journal of IKEEE
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.1202-1205
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• 2018

In this paper, we proposed ggNMOS based on 4H-SiC material and analyzed its electrical characteristics. 4H-SiC is a wide band-gap meterial, which is superior in area contrast and high voltage characteristics to Si material, and is attracting attention in the power semiconductor field. The proposed device has high robustness and strong snapback characteristics. The process consisted of SiC process and electrical characteristics were analyzed by TLP measurement equipment.