Nickel based ohmic contacts on SiC

We have compared the chemical and structural properties of Ni/SiC and Ni2Si/SiC interfaces. In the case of Ni/SiC, the contact formation is initiated by the dissociation of SiC, due to the strong reactivity of nickel at 950 °C. Ni2Si is formed and carbon accumulates, both at the interface and throughout the metal layer. At the interface, many Kirkendall voids are observed by TEM. Despite this poor interface morphology, low contact resistances have been measured. But the presence of carbon in the contact layer and at the interface is a potential source of contact degradation at high temperature. In the case of Ni/Si multilayers evaporated on SiC instead of pure Ni, the contact formation is preceded by Ni and Si mutual diffusion in the deposited layer yielding Ni2Si. Therefore, a smaller amount of carbon is released from SiC. Low carbon segregation, abrupt interface and low contact resistance characterize this contact. The thermal stability of Ni2Si contacts is illustrated with ageing experiments carried out at 500 °C.