Abstract
Ni/Ti/Al multilayer system ('/'denotes the deposition sequence) was tested for low-resistance ohmic contact formation to Al-implanted p-type 4H-SiC. Ni 30 nm / Ti 50 nm / Al 300 nm layers were sequentially deposited by e-beam evaporation on the 4H-SiC samples which were implanted with Al (norminal doping concentration = $4\times10^{19}cm^{-3}$) and then annealed at $1700^{\circ}C$ for dopant activation. Rapid thermal anneal (RTA) temperature for ohmic contact formation was varied in the range of $840\sim930^{\circ}C$. Specific contact resistances were extracted from the measured current vs. voltage (I-V) data of linear- and circular transfer length method (TLM) patterns. In constrast to Ni contact, Ni/Ti/Al contact shows perfectly linear I-V characteristics, and possesses much lower contact resistance of about $2\sim3\times10^{-4}\Omega{\cdot}cm^2$ even after low-temperature RTA at $840^{\circ}C$, which is about 2 orders of magnitude smaller than that of Ni contact. Therefore, it was shown that RTA temperature for ohmic contact formation can be lowered to at least $840^{\circ}C$ without significant compromise of contact resistance. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis indicated the existence of intermetallic compounds of Ni and Al as well as $NiSi_{1-x}$, but characteristic peaks of $Ti_{3}SiC_2$, a probable narrow-gap interfacial alloy responsible for low-resistance Ti/Al ohmic contact formation, were not detected. Therefore, Al in-diffusion into SiC surface region is considered to be the dominant mechanism of improvement in conduction behavior of Ni/Ti/Al contact.
