Electron and gamma irradiation effects on Al/n‒4H–SiC Schottky contacts

The Al/n‒4H–SiC Schottky contacts were prepared and studied their contact properties by current‒voltage (I−V) characteristics and X‒ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) technique. The results have shown localized Fermi‒level pinning (FLP) due to grown‒in defects in n‒4H–SiC. The electron and gamma irradiation on Schottky contacts have shown zero‒bias offset in the I−V characteristics. The XPS studies revealed that the observed behaviour was mainly attributed to irradiation‒induced defects in n‒4H–SiC bulk and their role in tunneling mechanism rather than contribution from the surface or interface chemical features alone.