Impact of stacking faults and domain boundaries on the electronic transport in cubic silicon carbide probed by conductive atomic force microscopy

TL;DR

This study investigates how stacking faults and domain boundaries affect electronic transport in cubic silicon carbide using conductive atomic force microscopy and simulations, revealing defect-specific impacts on device performance.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the roles of anti-phase boundaries and stacking faults on electrical transport in 3C-SiC, combining experimental mapping and simulations.

Findings

APBs cause reverse bias leakage.

Both APBs and SFs serve as current pathways under forward bias.

Defects influence electrical behavior, guiding material improvement.

Abstract

In spite of its great promises for energy efficient power conversion, the electronic quality of cubic silicon carbide (3C-SiC) on silicon is currently limited by the presence of a variety of extended defects in the heteroepitaxial material. However, the specific role of the different defects on the electronic transport is still under debate. In this work, a macro- and nano-scale characterization of Schottky contacts on 3C-SiC/Si was carried out, to elucidate the impact of the anti-phase-boundaries (APBs) and stacking-faults (SFs) on the forward and reverse current-voltage characteristics of these devices. Current mapping of 3C-SiC by conductive atomic force microscopy (CAFM) directly showed the role of APBs as the main defects responsible of the reverse bias leakage, while both APBs and SFs were shown to work as preferential current paths under forward polarization. Distinct differences between these two kinds of defects were also confirmed by electronic transport simulations of a front-to-back contacted SF and APB. These experimental and simulation results provide a picture of the role played by different types of extended defects on the electrical transport in vertical or quasi-vertical devices based on 3C-SiC/Si, and can serve as a guide for improving material quality by defects engineering.