Effects of very high neutron fluence irradiation on p+n junction 4H-SiC diodes

In this work we analyzed the radiation hardness of SiC p+n diodes after very high 1 MeV neutron fluence. The diode structure is based on a p+ emitter ion implanted in n-type epilayer with thickness equal to 5 ¼m and donor doping ND = 3×1015 cm-3. Before irradiation, the average leakage current density at 100 V reverse bias was of the order of 3 nA/cm2. These devices were irradiated at four different fluence values, logarithmically distributed in the range 1014-1016 (1 MeV) neutrons/cm2. After irradiation the epilayer material became more resistive, as indicated by the reduction of the forward and reverse current density at a given voltage. In particular, after a neutron fluence of 1×1014 n/cm2 the epilayer active doping concentration decreased to 1.5×1015 cm-3. After irradiation at 1016 n/cm2, i.e. the highest fluence value, the average leakage current density at 100 V reverse bias decreased to values of the order of 0.1 nA/cm2. This very low noise even after very high fluence is very important to obtain a high signal to noise ratio even at room temperature.