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DLTS study of the influence of annealing on deep level defects induced in xenon ions implanted n-type 4H-SiC

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Abstract

In this study, nitrogen-doped 4H-SiC samples were bombarded with 167 MeV xenon ions to a fluence of 1 × 108 cm−2 at 300 K prior to the fabrication of Schottky barrier diodes. The implanted samples were annealed at approximately 900 °C for 1 h before the resistive evaporation of nickel Schottky barrier diodes. In comparing the current–voltage results of the implanted devices with as-deposited ones, generation-recombination took place in the implanted Schottky barrier diodes. Four defects (100, 120, 170, and 650 meV) were present in as-deposited Schottky barrier diodes when characterized by deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS). In addition to the defects observed in the as-deposited samples, two additional defects with activation energies of 400 and 700 meV below the conduction band minimum were induced by Xe ions implantation. The two deep level defects present have signatures similar to defects present after irradiated by MeV electron. The two defects present after irradiation disappeared after annealing at 400 °C which indicate instability of the defects after annealing implanted samples.

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The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

Financial aid from the SA NRF (Grant No. 120856), as well as the University of Johannesburg (UJ) URC and FRC (Grant Nos. 282810, 083135) are acknowledged by AREP and CJS. V.A. Skuratov of Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Dubna, Russia is acknowledged for ion implantation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cr Research Group, Department of Physics, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, PO Box 524, Auckland Park, 2006, South Africa

    Ezekiel Omotoso, Aletta R. E. Prinsloo & Charles J. Sheppard

  2. Department of Physics, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, Private Bag X20, Hatfield, 0028, South Africa

    Walter E. Meyer, Thulani T. Hlatshwayo & F. Danie Auret

  3. Department of Mechanical Engineering Science, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, PO Box 524, Auckland Park, 2006, South Africa

    Emmanuel Igumbor

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  1. Ezekiel Omotoso
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  2. Walter E. Meyer
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  3. Emmanuel Igumbor
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  4. Thulani T. Hlatshwayo
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  5. Aletta R. E. Prinsloo
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Contributions

EO: Conceptualization, design of research, experimental, analysis, writing original draft. EI: Analysis, reviewing and editing. WEM and FDA: conceptualization, design of research, reviewing, editing and supervision. TTH: Experimental, reviewing and editing. AREP and CJS: Funding acquisition, reviewing, editing and supervision. All authors read and approved the final text.

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Correspondence to Ezekiel Omotoso or Charles J. Sheppard.

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Omotoso, E., Meyer, W.E., Igumbor, E. et al. DLTS study of the influence of annealing on deep level defects induced in xenon ions implanted n-type 4H-SiC. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 33, 15679–15688 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-022-08471-8

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