Characterisation of the high temperature performance of 4H-SiC Schottky barrier diodes

Three approaches to the modelling of the temperature and voltage dependence of the forward and reverse bias characteristics of 4H-SiC Ti Schottky Diodes are compared. 4H-SiC Schottky barrier diodes (SD) were fabricated and subjected to forward and reverse bias I-V characterisation at temperatures ranging from ambient to 300degreesC. Device parameters (barrier height, ideality factor) and the Richardson constant - area product (A(.)A**) were extracted from the forward characteristics using a modified Norde technique. Comparisons were made using extracted parameters for both forward and reverse bias conditions between three models: thermionic emission theory (TE), thermionic emission with barrier lowering (TEBIL) theory and thermionic field emission (TFE) theory. It is found that both TEBIL and TFE can provide a close fit for both forward and reverse conditions from a single set of parameters.