TY - JOUR AU - Fisher, C. A. AU - Jennings, M. R. AU - Sharma, Y. K. AU - Sanchez-Fuentes, A. AU - Walker, D. AU - Gammon, P. M. AU - Pérez-Tomás, A. AU - Thomas, S. M. PY - 2014/09/30 Y2 - 2024/03/28 TI - On The Schottky Barrier Height Lowering Effect of Ti3SiC2 in Ohmic Contacts to P-Type 4H-SiC: Nanophysics JF - International Journal of Fundamental Physical Sciences JA - Int. J. Fundam. Phys. Sci VL - 4 IS - 3 SE - DO - 10.14331/ijfps.2014.330071 UR - https://www.fundamentaljournals.org/index.php/ijfps/article/view/141 SP - 95-100 AB - <p>In this paper, an experimental investigation into titanium (Ti) / aluminium (Al)-based ohmic contacts to p-type 4H-silicon carbide (SiC) has been presented. Electrical characterisation of the fabricated contacts showed that metal structures with an initial Ti layer yielded the lowest specific contact resistance (ρ<sub>c</sub>), with a mean value of 3.7×10<sup>-5</sup> Ω-cm<sup>2</sup> being achieved after annealing in argon (Ar) at 1000°C for 2 minutes. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis illustrated the epitaxial relationship between the 4H-SiC and the as-deposited Ti layer, and, in conjunction with energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis, showed that after annealing a ~5 nm thick layer of Ti<sub>3</sub>SiC<sub>2</sub> was present, epitaxially arranged with the 4H-SiC. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis showed that the presence of the Ti<sub>3</sub>SiC<sub>2</sub> metallic phase was more prevalent in the samples with Ti as the initial metal layer annealed at 1000°C, which corresponded with lower specific contact resistance. Fitting of experimental data to a thermionic field emission (TFE) model allowed the Schottky barrier height to be extracted; it was found that the lowest Schottky barrier heights were more prevalent where the most intense Ti<sub>3</sub>SiC<sub>2</sub> phases were observed during XRD analysis.</p> ER -