Time-Dependent Dielectric Breakdown of Thermal Oxides on 4H-SiC

Thermal oxides on 4H-SiC are characterized using time-dependent dielectric breakdown techniques at electric fields between 6 and 10 MV/cm. At 250°C, oxides thermally-grown using N2O with NO annealing achieve a mean time to failure (MTTF) of 2300 hours at 6 MV/cm. Oxides grown in steam with NO annealing show approximately four times longer MTTF than N2O-grown oxides. At electric fields greater than 8 MV/cm, Fowler-Nordheim tunneling significantly reduces the expected failure times. For this reason, extrapolation of mean-time to failure at low fields must be performed by datapoints measured at lower electric fields.