4H-SiC detectors for ultraviolet light monitoring

Silicon Carbide (SiC) provides the unique property of near-perfect visible blindness and very high signal-to-noise ratio due to the high quantum efficiency and low dark current even at high temperature. These features make SiC the best available material for the manufacturing of visible blind semiconductor ultraviolet (UV) light detectors. Thanks to their properties, SiC detectors have been extensively used in fact for flame detection monitoring, UV sterilization and astronomy. Here we report on the electrical and optical performance of patterned thin metal film NiSi/4H-SiC vertical Schottky photodiodes with different semiconductor exposed area suitably designed for UV light monitoring.