A study of the effect of electron and proton irradiation on 4H-SiC device structures

The changes of the current-voltage characteristics and the uncompensated donor-impurity concentration (N (d) -N (a) ) in the base electrode of Schottky diodes and JBS diodes based on 4H-SiC have been studied upon their irradiation with 0.9-MeV electrons and 15-MeV protons. The carrier-removal rate was 0.07-0.15 cm(-1) under electron irradiation and 50-70 cm(-1) under proton irradiation. It was shown that the current-voltage characteristics of the devices under study remain rectifying at electron irradiation doses of up to 1017 cm(-2). It was demonstrated that the radiation hardness of the SiC-based devices under study substantially exceeds that of silicon p-i-n diodes with similar breakdown voltages.