Improvement of I-V Characteristics of Schottky Barrier Diode by 4H-SiC Surface Planarization

Leakage current points in 4H-SiC Schottky barrier diodes (SBDs) were found to be in the same location as rough surface morphologies. Rough surfaces after activation annealing at the Schottky interface of diodes were removed by chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) or catalyst-referred etching (CARE). As a result, this study succeeded in reducing the leakage current and barrier height variation of 1.2 kV SBDs by eliminating surface roughness.