Low specific contact resistance on epitaxial p-type 4H-SiC with a step-bunching surface

This paper reports the performances of Ti/Al based ohmic contacts fabricated on highly doped p-type 4H-SiC epitaxial layer which has a severe step-bunching surface. Different contact schemes are investigated based on the AI：Ti composition with no more than 50 at.% Al. The specific contact resistance （SCR） is obtained to be as low as 2.6 × 10-6Ωcm2 for the bilayered Ti（100 nm）/Al（100 nm） contact treated with 3 rain rapid thermal annealing （RTA） at 1000 ℃. The microstructure analyses examined by physical and chemical characterization techniques reveal an alloy-assisted ohmic contact formation mechanism, i.e., a high degree of alloying plays a decisive role in forming the interfacial ternary Ti3SiC2 dominating the ohmic behavior of the Ti/Al based contact. Furthermore, a globally covered Ti3 SiC2 layer with （0001）-oriented texture can be formed, regardless of the surface step bunching as well as its structural evolution during the metallization annealing.