Deeper insight into lifetime-engineering in 4H-SiC by ion implantation

Lifetime-engineering in 4H-SiC is important to obtain a low forward voltage drop in bipolar devices with high blocking voltages above 10 kV. It is known that the implantation of carbon and subsequent thermal annealing can be used to improve the minority carrier lifetime of as-grown epitaxial layers due to annihilation of carbon vacancies and, therefore, reduce the lifetime limiting defect $Z1/2$⁠. In this paper, the ion implantation of other ions (N, Al, B, and As) besides carbon and their impact on minority carrier lifetime and point defect concentration are shown. Special attention is paid to the effect of ion implantation with subsequent electrical activation by high temperature annealing. A strong influence of the implantation dose and, therefore, corresponding resulting doping concentration was found. A lifetime enhancement could be found for some implanted species for higher implantation doses whereas the detrimental effect of high temperature annealing dominated at low implantation doses. The results reveal that the implantation dose and the occupied lattice sites are important parameters to achieve a lifetime enhancement. A model is presented which explains the different impacts of various implanted ions and a more detailed understanding of lifetime-engineering by ion implantation. With this knowledge, it was possible to reduce the detrimental $Z1/2$ defect in a large part of thick epitaxial layers with conventional shallow ion implantation and high temperature annealing. Consequently, the minority carrier lifetimes of the epitaxial layers could be enhanced.