Highly Efficient Low Reverse Biased 4H-SiC Schottky Photodiodes for UV-Light Detection

Ultraviolet light detection has a wide range of scientific and industrial applications. In particular, SiC photodiodes have been proposed because of their robustness even in harsh environments, high quantum efficiency but excellent visible blindness, very low dark current, and high speed. Here, we report on the electrical and optical performances of high efficient large area 4H-SiC Schottky photodiodes working in the photovoltaic regime. We demonstrate that the high signal-to-noise ratio along with the low operating reverse voltage in spite of the large sensitive area makes them suitable in low power consumption applications requiring high sensitivity down to 250 nm.