Improved reverse current-voltage characteristics of a 4H-SiC PiN diode by bias-enhanced reduction of surface damage

This paper introduces a phenomenon in which the leakage current of a 4H-SiC PiN diode was dramatically reduced without destruction during a bias stress. The reverse current-voltage characteristics of the 4H-SiC PiN diode were improved by using the bias-stress technique employing this phenomenon. Compared to a PiN diode bias-stressed for 10 s, a PiN diode bias-stressed for 600 s showed about a 2 order of magnitude lower leakage current and a 2.2 times higher breakdown voltage (1322 V for a PiN diode having an epi-layer thickness of 8 µm, which approaches 89% of the ideal value for a 1-dimensional (1-D) parallel plate structure).