Dynamic charge storage in 6H-silicon carbide: prospects for high-speed nonvolatile RAMs

Summary form only given. Charge storage on p-n junctions in 6H-silicon carbide (SiC) has been investigated. Storage times in these devices are too long to be measured at room temperature, and most investigations were conducted at temperatures above 300°C. Charge recovery in this regime is thermally activated with an activation energy close to half bandgap (≈1.45 eV). Studies of different size devices indicate that the leakage current is dominated by generation at the SiO ₂ passivated sidewalls, and is sensitive to the oxidation conditions (i.e., wet versus dry). A simple extrapolation of the high-temperature data yields a room-temperature storage time of several hundred thousand years