Low-Temperature Annealing of Lightly Doped n-4H-SiC Layers after Irradiation with Fast Electrons

The effect of low-temperature (up to 600 degrees C) isothermal and isochronous annealing on the electrical characteristics of irradiated n-4H-SiC JBS Schottky diodes is studied. Irradiation is performed with 0.9-MeV electrons at a dose of 1 x 10(16) cm(-2). It is shown that the forward current-voltage (I-V) and capacitance-voltage (C-V) characteristics of the irradiated diodes are mainly restored at annealing temperatures of up to 300 degrees C. As the annealing temperature is raised to 500 degrees C, nearly 90% of the defects introduced by irradiation with fast electrons are annealed out. The possible recommended mode of stabilizing annealing to be used in radiation-defect engineering (RDE) is 500 degrees C, 30 min.