The role of non-homogeneous barrier on the electrical performance of 15R–SiC Schottky diodes grown by in-situ RF sputtering

In the present work, we have demonstrated the impact of barrier inhomogeneities on the electrical characteristics of silicon carbide (SiC) based Schottky barrier diodes (SBDs). Ohmic and Schottky contacts were deposited on RF sputtered 15R–SiC film under optimized growth conditions. Forward biased current-voltage ( I – V ) measurement in the temperature range of 300–420 K was employed to extract the diode parameters (barrier height, ideality factor, and Richardson constant), considering the thermionic emission (TE) as dominant charge transport mechanism. The obtained value of barrier height φ B and ideality factor n exhibited anomalies as compared to theoretically predicted values. It was attributed to the co-existence of multiple charge transport mechanism owing to defect induced lateral barrier inhomogeneities at the metal-semiconductor interface. Further, Gaussian distribution of φ B , as established by Warner and Guttler was incorporated along with TE model to analyze the temperature dependent I–V data to understand the non-ideality in diode parameters. Eventually, the obtained diode parameters as per the modified charge transport mechanism were found to be in close alignment with the predicted values. • In-situ growth of high quality 15R–SiC thin film based Schottky diodes using sputtering. • Comprehensive analysis of Ohmic contact formation at Ni–SiC interface. • Impact of barrier inhomogeneities on electrical performance of 15R–SiC based SBDs. • Gaussian distribution of φ B was incorporated to analyze the temperature dependent I–V data to understand the non-ideality in diode parameters.