Low frequency noise in 4H-SiC metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors

The low frequency noise was studied in 4H-SiC metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs) in the frequency range from 1 Hz to 100 kHz. 1/f (flicker) noise dominated in output noise over the entire frequency range and for a wide range of drain and gate biases. The dependence of the relative spectral noise density, S-I/I-d(2), on the drain current, I-d (at constant drain voltage, V-d), was qualitatively different from typical dependences for n-channel Si MOSFETs. In Si MOSFETs, in strong inversion, S-I/I-d(2) usually decreases as similar to 1/I-d(2) and tends to saturate in the subthreshold region, whereas in SiC MOSFETs under study, S-I/I-d(2)alpha I-d(-0.5) for the currents varying from the deep subthreshold regime to the strong inversion. [Similar dependences were often observed in amorphous and polycrystalline thin film transistors (TFTs).] The effective field effect mobility of 3-7 cm(2)/V s extracted from the measured I-V characteristics is almost as low as that in amorphous Si TFTs. This result might be explained by a high density of localized states near the conduction band in the thin ion implanted silicon carbide layer. The energy dependence of trap density responsible for the noise was extracted for the states located close to the bottom of conduction band. (C) 2008 American Institute of Physics. [DOI:10.1063/1.3009664]