Effect of interface states on electron transport in 4H-SiC inversion layers

The effect of trapping in interface states on channel conductance and field-effect mobility in SiC MOSFETs is studied experimentally and theoretically. Hall effect measurements in n-channel MOS devices with varying densities of interface states were used to determine the effect of trapping on carrier mobility. The dependence of electron mobility on immobile interfacial charge density was quantified and was found to be similar to that in silicon, provided that the mobility is normalized to μ₀, the value in the absence of Coulomb scattering. A relationship has been established between the ratio of field-effect mobility to the actual carrier mobility and the density of interface states at the Fermi energy