γ-ray detector based on n-type 4H-SiC Schottky barrier diode

Silicon carbide (SiC) is a wide band-gap, high-temperature-resistant, and radiation-resistant semiconducting material, which can be used as a radiation detector material in harsh environments such as high radiation background and high temperatures. Schottky barrier diode radiation detectors are fabricated using 100 mu m-thick n-type 4H-SiC epitaxial layers for low energy gamma-ray detection. The spectrum responses of 4H-SiC Schottky barrier detectors are investigated by irradiation of gamma-ray from 2 4 1 Am source. Schottky diodes are prepared by magnetron-sputtering 100 nm-thick nickel on epitaxial surface (Si face) to obtain Schottky contact and Ni/Au on substrate surface (C face) to obtain Ohmic back contact, respectively. Room temperature current-voltage (I-V) and capacitance-voltage (C-V) curves are measured to study the properties of Schottky diodes. Ohmic characteristic measurement shows that the Ohmic contact is formed after annealing in a temperature range of 900-1050. degrees C, and the lowest specific contact resistivity of 2.55 x 10(-5) Omega.cm(2) is obtained after annealing at 1050 degrees C. The forward I-V curve reveals that the Schottky barrier height and the ideality factor are 1.617 eV and 1.127, respectively, indicating that the main current transportation process is the thermal electron emission. From the C-V curve, besides the net dopant concentration being inferred to be 2.903 x 10(14) cm(3), the profile of the free carrier concentration in epitaxial layer is also studied. A comparision of the reverse I-V curves of SiC Schottky diodes with different epitaxial layer thickness shows that the diode with 100 mu m-thick epitaxial layer has a constant reverse leakage current when the bias voltage is less than 400 V, showing good rectification characteristics. By applying a reverse bias of 500 V, the diode has a leakage current of 2.11 nA, exhibiting a relatively high breakdown voltage. The depletion layer width of SiC detector is calculated to be 94.4 mu m at 500 V, indicating that the epitaxial layer is almost fully depleted. The signal of SiC detector through preamplifier displays a relatively low amplitude pulse (15 mV). A typical gamma-ray spectrum response from SiC detector shows 9.49% (5.65 keV) energy resolution for 59.5 keV with a reverse bias of 300 V. The potential causes of poor count rate and energy resolution of fabricated detectors are analyzed in this article. The lower count rate is mainly caused by the narrow depletion layer, resulting in fewer photons deposited in sensitive region which can generate carriers. The poor energy resolution of SiC detector can be attributed to the electronic noise of read-out circuit, the pre-match amplifier circuit for detector needs to be improved, in addition, the extra defects existing in detector caused by increasing thickness of epitaxial layer can also deteriorate the detector performance.