Analysis of compensation effects in aluminum-implanted 4H-SiC devices

In this work, we analyze compensating defects which are formed after implantation of aluminum (Al) into n-type 4H-SiC epitaxial layers and subsequent thermal annealing. These defects reduce the expected free charge carrier density by 84% for a low doped layer with [Al]impl ≈ 9·1016 cm-3 and by 27 % for a high doped layer with [Al]impl ≈ 2·1019 cm-3. Furthermore, an electrical activation ratio of implanted aluminum ions of 100 % is calculated. The ionization energy of implanted aluminum as measured by Hall effect and admittance spectroscopy ranges from 101 meV to 305 meV depending on the doping concentration.