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Published Online: 20 February 2020
Accepted: February 2020

Carbon dangling-bond center (carbon Pb center) at 4H-SiC(0001)/SiO2 interface featured

Appl. Phys. Lett. 116, 071604 (2020); https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5143555
T. Umeda1,a), T. Kobayashi2, M. Sometani3, H. Yano1, Y. Matsushita2, and S. Harada3
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ABSTRACT
We identify a carbon dangling-bond center intrinsically formed at thermally oxidized 4H-SiC(0001)/SiO2 interfaces. Our electrically detected-magnetic-resonance spectroscopy and first-principles calculations demonstrate that this center, which we name “the PbC center,” is formed at a carbon adatom on the 4H-SiC(0001) honeycomb-like structure. The PbC center (Si3≡C-, where “-” represents an unpaired electron) is determined to be a just carbon version of the famous Pb center (Si dangling-bond center, Si3≡Si-) at Si(111)/SiO2 interfaces because we found close similarities between their wave functions. The PbC center acts as one of the major interfacial traps in 4H-SiC(0001) metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs), which decreases the free-carrier density and the field-effect mobility of 4H-SiC(0001) MOSFETs. The formation of the PbC centers has the role of reducing the oxidation-induced strain, similar to the case of the formation of the Pb centers.
This work was supported by the Council for Science, Technology and Innovation (CSTI), Cross-ministerial Strategic Innovation Promotion Program (SIP), “Next-generation power electronics” (funding agency: NEDO). This work was also, partly, supported by Grant-in-Aids (Grant Nos. 18H03770, 18H03873, and 17H02781) from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan. Computations were performed, mainly, at the Center for Computational Science, University of Tsukuba, and the Supercomputer Center at the Institute for Solid State Physics, The University of Tokyo.

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