Eiichi Okuno

High Channel Mobility of MOSFET Fabricated on 4H-SiC (11-20) Face Using Wet Annealing

We studied the annealing process to improve the field-effect channel mobility (μFE) on the 4H-SiC (11-20) face. We found that wet annealing, in which a wet atmosphere was maintained during the cooling-down period to 600°C after wet oxidation, was effective. The interface states (Dit) near the conduction band edge decreased and the μFE increased up to 244 cm2/Vs. Furthermore, the origin of this high channel mobility was investigated using secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) measurement and thermal desorption spectroscopy (TDS) analysis. It was indicated that the hydrogen density at the MOS interface was increased by the wet annealing and the hydrogen was desorbed mainly at temperatures between 800 °C and 900 °C. These hydrogen desorption temperatures also corresponded to the temperatures of the μFE reduction by argon annealing after the wet annealing. These results indicated that this high channel mobility was achieved by hydrogen passivation during the wet annealing at temperatures between 800 °C and 900 °C.

Platinum thickness dependence and annealing effect of the spin-Seebeck voltage in platinum/yttrium iron garnet structures

We investigate the substrate annealing effect of thermoelectric voltage induced by the spin-Seebeck effect in Pt/polycrystalline yttrium iron garnet Y3Fe5O12 (YIG) structures with different Pt thicknesses. The thermoelectric voltage is increased by decreasing the Pt thickness to 1.9 nm as well as by annealing. Annealing at 1073 K for 5 h enhances the thermoelectric voltage up to 7.4 µV/K in structures with 1.9 nm Pt thickness.

Electrochemical deposition of iron sulfide thin films and heterojunction diodes with zinc oxide

Iron sulfide thin films were fabricated by the electrochemical deposition method from an aqueous solution containing FeSO4 and Na2S2O3. The composition ratio obtained was Fe:S:O = 36:56:8. In the photoelectrochemical measurement, a weak negative photo-current was observed for the iron sulfide films, which indicates that its conduction type is p-type. No peaks were observed in X-ray diffraction pattern, and thus the deposited films were considered to be amorphous. For a heterojunction with ZnO, rectification properties were confirmed in the current-voltage characteristics. Moreover, the current was clearly enhanced under AM1.5 illumination.

Influence of Threading Dislocations on Lifetime of Gate Thermal Oxide

The reliability of gate oxides is a fundamental issue for realizing SiC MOSFETs. Many reports said that crystal defects shorten the lifetime of the gate oxide. And, epi defects, the basal plane dislocations and threading screw dislocations (TSD) are considered killer defects. However, because of the high TSD density of commercial SiC wafers, the exact relationship between other kinds of dislocations with lifetime has not been revealed. On the other hand, RAF wafers that we developed have low TSD density, so it is easy to evaluate the relationship between other kinds of dislocations and lifetime. By using RAF wafers, in this study, we clarified the relationship between the lifetime of the gate oxide and crystal defects. We fabricated MOS diodes and measured their lifetimes by TDDB (Time Dependent Dielectric Breakdown) measurement. The breakdown points were defined by the photo-emission method. Finally, we classified the defects by TEM (Transmission Electron Microscopy). As the results, it was clarified that threading edge dislocation (TED) decreases the lifetime as does TSD, which earlier reports said. The lifetime of the gate oxide area, in which a TED is included, was shorter by one order of magnitude than a wear-out breakdown. And, the TSD was two orders.

1200-V JBS Diodes with Low Threshold Voltage and Low Leakage Current

4H-SiC SBDs have been developed by many researchers and commercialized for power application devices in recent years. At present time, the issues of an SiC-SBD are lower on-state current and a relatively larger-leakage current at the reverse bias than Si-PN diodes. A JBS (Junction Barrier Schottky) diode was proposed as a structure to realize a lower leakage current. We simulated the electrical characteristics of JBS diodes, where the Schottky electrode was made of molybdenum in order to optimize its performance. We fabricated JBS diodes based on the simulation with a diameter of 3.9mm (11.9 mm2). The JBS diode has a lower threshold voltage of 0.45 V, a large forward current of 40 A at Vf = 2.5V and a high breakdown voltage of 1660 V. Furthermore, the leakage current at 1200 V was remarkably low (Ir = 20 nA).

Low On-Resistance in Normally-Off 4H-SiC Accumulation MOSFET

In our previous paper [1], we simulated an accumulation-mode MOSFET with an epitaxial layer channel (epi-channel) that had a high channel mobility. In this paper, we experimentally show that channel mobility is enhanced by the epi-channel. On varying the thickness of the epi-channel, the channel mobility improved from a few cm2/Vs to 100 cm2/Vs. Finally, we show that the “Normally-off” accumulation MOSFET with a 720 V breakdown voltage has a low on-resistance (10.4 m1cm2) and that the 3 × 3 mm2 accumulation MOSFET operates over 10 A and its on-resistance is 19 m1cm2.

(11-20) Face Channel MOSFET with Low On-Resistance

We have investigated the techniques to improve the channel mobility of SiC MOSFETs and found that the hydrogen termination of dangling bonds at a MOS interface is very effective in improving the channel mobility, particularly that of the interface fabricated on a (11-20) face wafer. A high channel mobility of MOSFET on the (11-20) face was achieved to 244cm2/Vs by new process which can terminate dangling bonds by hydrogen. The vertical MOSFET, which is prepared using this process, has a low on-resistance of 5.7 mΩcm2 and a breakdown voltage of 1100 V. The channel resistance is estimated at 0.58 mΩcm2.

Preparation of highly luminescent hybrid gel incorporating NAC-capped CdTe quantum dots through sol–gel processing

Highly photoluminescent gel was prepared by embedding water soluble quantum dots (QDs) in an inorganic–organic hybrid gel matrix using a conventional sol–gel process. Aminopropyltrimethoxysilane and citric acid (CA) were found to be the best combination for the gel preparation. 13C-NMR and FT-IR studies indicated hydrogen bond formation between the amine group of APS and the carboxyl group of CA. IR-light radiation curing was comparable to thermal curing and reduced the gelation time to a considerable extent (71 %). The resulting composite formed a hybrid gel phosphor with excellent transparency by embedding CdTe QDs into the matrix and emitted light of various colors with high photoluminescence efficiency (40 %). The gel phosphor retained the PL properties after storage in air for one year. In addition, the strength of the hybrid phosphor was demonstrated by a coin-flipping test.

Direct Growth of AlN Single Crystal on Sapphire by Solution Growth Method

AlN was directly grown on a sapphire substrate by the solution growth method with the Cu–Si–Al–Ti solvent under a nitrogen gas flow. X-ray diffraction measurements revealed that the grown AlN was single crystal. The AlN layer was epitaxially formed on the sapphire substrate with the orientation relationships: (0001)AlN ∥(0001)sapphire and [100]AlN ∥[110]sapphire. The full widths at half maximum (FWHMs) of X-ray rocking curves for tilt and twist components were 414 and 2031 arcsec, respectively.

Expansion of Stacking Faults in 4H-SiC Epitaxial Layer under Laser Light Excitation during Room Temperature Photoluminescence Mapping

We investigated the expansion of single Shockley stacking faults (SSFs) in a 4H-SiC epitaxial layer under high-intensity scanning laser beam during room temperature photoluminescence mapping, which is similar to the degradation of bipolar pin diodes during forward current injection. In an epitaxial layer on an 8 off-axis (0001) substrate, the SSF-related intensity patterns induced by scanning high-intensity laser beam were classified into two types. The first one was a triangular pattern and the second a pattern which expanded in accordance with the motion of the scanning laser beam. The origins of the SSFs responsible for both patterns are presumably due to the preexisting basal plane dislocations and the dislocation-loops on the basal plane in the epitaxial layer, respectively. On the other hand, most of the SSF-expansion in on-axis (11 2 0) epitaxial layers were similar to the second type in the (0001) epitaxial layer. We, therefore, suggest that the dislocation-loops, which were located close to the surface, were dominant nucleation-sites of the SSFs in the (11 2 0) epitaxial layers.