Hydrogen passivation of silicon carbide by low-energy ion implantation

Ion implantation of deuterium is performed to investigate the mobility and passivating effect of hydrogen in epitaxial α-SiC (polytypes 4H and 6H). To avoid excessive damage and the resulting trapping of hydrogen, the implantation is performed with low energy (600 eV 2H2+). The H2 depth profile is analyzed by secondary ion mass spectrometry. Electrical properties are measured by capacitance–voltage profiling and admittance spectroscopy. In p-type SiC, hydrogen diffuses on a μm scale even at room temperature and effectively passivates acceptors. In n-type SiC, the incorporation of H is suppressed and no passivation is detected.