Depth profiling of graphene with high-resolution ion beam analysis is a practical method for analysis of monolayer thicknesses of graphene. Not only is the energy resolution sufficient to resolve graphene from underlying SiC, but by use of isotope labeling it is possible to tag graphene generated from reacted ethylene. Furthermore, we are able to analyze graphene supported by oxidized Si(100) substrates, allowing the study of graphene films grown by chemical vapor deposition on metal and transfered to silicon. This introduces a powerful method to explore the fundamentals of graphene formation.
Raman spectroscopy has been used to identify defective bonding in neon and silicon ion irradiated single crystals of 6H-SiC. Observable differences exist in the C-C bonding region corresponding to different defect structures for neon and silicon ion implantations. Raman spectra of ion irradiated SiC show less tensile strain than neutron irradiations, explained by a residual compressive stress caused by the swelling constrained by the undamaged substrate. Evidence of oxidation during high temperature ion implantation is observed as C-O and Si-O Raman signals. Annealing irradiated SiC while acqu…
A laser multicharged ion source was used to perform interfacial treatment of the 4H-SiC/ SiO2 interface using B and Ba ions. A Q-switched Nd:YAG laser (wavelength λ = 1064 nm, pulse width τ = 7 ns, and fluence F = 135 J/cm2) was used to ablate B and Ba targets to generate multicharged ions. The ions were deflected by an electrostatic field to separate them from the neutrals. The multicharged ions were used for nanometer layer growth and shallow ion implantation in 4H-SiC. Several metal-oxide-semiconductor capacitors (MOSCAP) were fabricated with a combination of B and Ba at the SiC/SiO2 interf…
Thermal annealing plays a crucial role for healing the defectiveness in the ion implanted regions of DIMOSFETs (Double Implanted MOSFETs) devices. In this work, we have studied the effect of a double step annealing on the body (Al implanted) and the source (P implanted) regions of such devices. We found that a high temperature annealing (1750°C, 1h) followed by a lower temperature one (1500°C, 4h) is mandatory to achieve low defects concentration and good crystal quality in both the n- and p- type zones of the device.
Based on the parameters from published ab-inito theoretical and experimental studies, and combining Molecular Dynamics (MD) and kinetic Monte Carlo (KMC) simulations, a framework of multi-scale modeling is developed to investigate the long-term evolution of displacement damage induced by heavy-ion irradiation in cubic silicon carbide. The isochronal annealing after heavy ion irradiation is simulated, and the annealing behaviors of total interstitials are found consistent with previous experiments. Two annealing stages below 600K and one stage above 900K are identified. The mechanisms for those…
We report first-principles static and dynamic calculations that clarify the microscopic mechanism of carbon annihilation due to phosphorous treatment upon oxidation of silicon carbide (SiC). We identify the most stable form of the phosphorus (P) in the oxide as the four-fold coordinated with the dangling PO unit and find that the unit attracts carbon ejected from the interface, thus operating as a carbon absorber. This finding provides a microscopic reasoning for the first time for the promotion of the oxidation reaction on one hand and the annihilation of the C-related defects at the interfac…
The p-type doping efficiency of 4H silicon carbide (4H-SiC) is rather low due to the large ionization energies of p-type dopants. Such an issue impedes the exploration of the full advantage of 4H-SiC for semiconductor devices. In this letter, we show that co-doping group-IVB elements effectively decreases the ionization energy of the most widely used p-type dopant, i. e., aluminum (Al), through the Coulomb repulsion between the energy levels of group-IVB elements and that of Al in 4H-SiC. Among group-IVB elements Ti has the most prominent effectiveness. Ti decreases the ionization energy of Al…
The synthesis of embedded silicon carbide was carried out in N type silicon samples having (100) and (111) orientations using high dose implantation of carbon ions at room temperature. The variation of dose was employed to get dose dependence of silicon carbide formation. Postimplant annealing at 1000 C in order to anneal out the implantion induced defects and to get silicon carbide precipitates in silicon matrix. Detailed Fourier tarnsform infrared spectroscopy analysis and x-ray diffraction studies confirms the formation of cubic phase of silicon carbide. The grain size of the silicon carbid…
Ion implantation is widely used as a surrogate for neutron irradiation in the investigation of radiation damage on the properties of materials. Due to the small depth of damage, micromechanical methods must be used to extract material properties. In this work, nanoindentation has been applied to ion irradiated silicon carbide to extract radiation-induced hardening. Residual stress is evaluated using HR-EBSD, AFM swelling measurements, and a novel microcantilever relaxation technique coupled with finite element modelling. Large compressive residual stresses of several GPa are found in the irrad…
Dendrite formation during electrodeposition while charging lithium metal batteries compromises their safety. While high shear modulus solid-ion conductors (SICs) have been prioritized to resolve pressure-driven instabilities that lead to dendrite propagation and cell shorting, it is unclear whether these or alternatives are needed to guide uniform lithium electrodeposition, which is intrinsically density-driven. Here, we show that SICs can be designed within a universal chemomechanical paradigm to access either pressure-driven dendrite-blocking or density-driven dendrite-suppressing properties…
The effects of ion beam induced atomic mixing and subsequent thermal treatment in Si/C multilayer structures are investigated by use of the technique of grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXRD) and Raman spectroscopy. The [Si (3.0 nm) / C (2.5 nm)]x10 /Si multilayer films were prepared by electron beam evaporation under ultra high vacuum (UHV) environment. The layer thicknesses were measured using in-situ quartz crystal oscillator. These multilayer films were subjected to 40 keV Ar+ ion irradiation with fluences 5E-16 (low fluence) and 1E-17 ions / cm2 (high fluence).The as-prepared and irr…
We found that carbon-associated byproducts formed at the dry-oxidized SiO2/SiC(0001) interface could be decomposed and be taken out to the SiO2 side by high-purity Ar annealing. We evaluated the concentration of the ejected carbon atoms in the SiO2 by secondary ion mass spectrometry, and discovered that it clearly depends on the condition of oxide formation (dry-oxidation, nitridation treatment, and phosphorus treatment). This work provides an indirect but unambiguous evidence for the carbon-byproducts existing at the SiO2/SiC interfaces, and also indicates that the phosphorus treatment remove…
Distribution of black spot defects and small clusters in 1 MeV krypton irradiated 3C-SiC has been investigated using advanced scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) and TEM. We find that two thirds of clusters smaller than 1 nm identified in STEM are invisible in TEM images. For clusters that are larger than 1 nm, STEM and TEM results match very well. A cluster dynamics model has been developed for SiC to reveal processes that contribute to evolution of defect clusters and validated against the (S)TEM results. Simulations showed that a model based on established properties of point d…
Thick, high-purity semi-insulating (SI)homoepitaxial layers on Si-face 4H-SiC weregrownsystematically, with resistivity \geq 109Ω-cmby maintaining high C/Si ratios 1.3-15 during growth.Comparison of secondary ion mass spectra betweenlow-dopedepilayers grown at C/Si ratio<1.3andSI-epilayers grown at C/Si ratio>1.3 showed little difference in residual impurity concentrations. A reconciliation of impurity concentration with measured resistivity indicated a compensating trap concentration of ~1015cm-3present only in the SI-epilayers. High- resolution photo induced transient spectroscopy (HRPITS) i…
Muonium dynamics as a probe for depth-resolved properties of 4H-SiC
PSI Center for Neutron and Muon Sciences（保罗谢尔研究所中子与缪子科学中心）；Advanced Power Semiconductor Laboratory, ETH Zurich（苏黎世联邦理工学院先进功率半导体实验室）；Department of Physics/ Centre for Materials Science and Nanotechnology, University of Oslo（奥斯陆大学物理系/材料科学与纳米技术研究中心）
In this work, we have studied the crystal defectiveness and doping activation subsequent to ion implantation and post-annealing by using various techniques including photoluminescence (PL), Raman spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The aim of this work was to test the effectiveness of double step annealing to reduce the density of point defects generated during the annealing of a P implanted 4H-SiC epitaxial layer. The outcome of this work evidences that neither the first, 1 hour isochronal annealing at 1650 - 1700 - 1750 °C, nor the second one, at 1500 °C for times betwee…
The thermal decomposition of SiC surface provides, perhaps, the most promising method for the epitaxial growth of graphene on a material useful in the electronics platform. Currently, efforts are focused on a reliable method for the growth of large-area, low-strain epitaxial graphene that is still lacking. We report here a novel method for the fast, single-step epitaxial growth of large-area homogeneous graphene film on the surface of SiC(0001) using an infrared CO2 laser (10.6 μm) as the heating source. Apart from enabling extreme heating and cooling rates, which can control the stacking orde…
We demonstrate on the basis of first-principles calculations that the formation of carbonate-like moiety in SiO$_2$ could be the intrinsic origin of negative fixed charge in SiC thermal oxidation. We find that two possible origins for the negative fixed charges are O-lone-pair state and a negatively charged CO$_3$ ion in SiO$_2$. Such CO$_3$ ion is able to be formed as a result of the existence of residual C atoms in SiO$_2$, which are expected to be emitted from the interface between SiC and SiO$_2$, and the incorporation of H atoms during wet oxidation.
We have studied the temperature behavior of the electron spin resonance (ESR) spectra of nitrogen (N) donors in n-type 6H SiC crystals grown by Lely and sublimation sandwich methods (SSM) with donor concentration of 10^17 cm^(-3) at T=60-150 K. A broad signal in the ESR spectrum was observed at T>=80 K with Lorentzian lineshape and gpar=2.0043(3), gper=2.0030(3), which was previously assigned in the literature to the N donors in the 1s(E) excited state. Based on the analysis of the ESR lineshape, linewidth and g-tensor we attribute this signal to the conduction electrons (CE). The emergence of…
This paper describes the behavior of top gated transistors fabricated using carbon, particularly epitaxial graphene on SiC, as the active material. In the past decade research has identified carbon-based electronics as a possible alternative to silicon-based electronics. This enthusiasm was spurred by high carbon nanotube carrier mobilities. However, nanotube production, placement, and control are all serious issues. Graphene, a thin sheet of graphitic carbon, can overcome some of these problems and therefore is a promising new electronic material. Although graphene devices have been built bef…
Transition metal ions provide a rich set of optically active defect spins in wide bandgap semiconductors. Chromium (Cr4+) in silicon-carbide (SiC) produces a spin-1 ground state with a narrow, spectrally isolated, spin-selective, near-telecom optical interface. However, previous studies were hindered by material quality resulting in limited coherent control. In this work, we implant Cr into commercial 4H-SiC and show optimal defect activation after annealing above 1600 C. We measure an ensemble optical hole linewidth of 31 MHz, an order of magnitude improvement compared to as-grown samples. An…
All-dry processing of 3C-SiC nanomechanical string resonators for extreme aspect ratios and high intrinsic quality factor
Technical University of Munich（慕尼黑工业大学）；Munich Center for Quantum Science and Technology (MCQST)（慕尼黑量子科学与技术中心）；TUM Center for Quantum Engineering (ZQE)（慕尼黑工业大学量子工程中心）
This work reports on the effect of high temperature annealing on the electrical properties of p-type implanted 4H-SiC. Ion implantations of Aluminium (Al) at different energies (30 - 200 keV) were carried out to achieve 300 nm thick acceptor box profiles with a concentration of about 1020 at/cm3. The implanted samples were annealed at high temperatures (1675-1825 °C). Morphological analyses of the annealed samples revealed only a slight increase of the surface roughness RMS up to 1775°C, while this increase becomes more significant at 1825°C (RMS=1.2nm). Room temperature Hall measurements resu…
The diffusion of silver (Ag) impurities in high energy grain boundaries (HEGBs) of cubic (3C) silicon carbide (SiC) is studied using an ab initio based kinetic Monte Carlo (kMC) model. This study assesses the hypothesis that the HEGB diffusion is responsible for Ag release in Tristructural-Isotropic fuel particles, and provides a specific example to increase understanding of impurity diffusion in highly disordered grain boundaries. The HEGB environment was modeled by an amorphous SiC. The structure and stability of Ag defects were calculated using density functional theory code. The defect ene…
