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Silicon carbide (SiC) detectors were used to analyze the multi-MeV ions of the plasma produced by irradiation of various targets with a 300-ps laser at intensity of 1016 W/cm2. The SiC detectors were realized by fabricating Schottky diodes on 80 μm epitaxial layer. The low dopant concentration and defect density of the epilayer allowed the realization of good performance detectors. The use of SiC detectors ensures the cutting of the visible and soft ultraviolet radiation emitted from plasma enhancing the sensitivity to very fast ions. The time-of-flight spectra obtained by irradiating different targets show a peak associated to protons and various peaks relative to different charge states of ions. Processing of the experimental data allows to estimate the energies of the protons and of the different ions emitted from laser-induced plasma. The SiC detector results are compared with the ones obtained by Ion Collector and a Thomson Parabola spectrometer.

In this contribution, we will illustrate the main results of the R&D activities related to the Silicon Carbide detectors associated with NUMEN project.

4H-SiC defects evolution after thermal processes has been evaluated. Different annealing temperatures have been used to decrease the defect density of epitaxial layer (as stacking faults) and recover the damage occurred after ion implantation. The propagation of defects has been detected by Photoluminescence tool and monitored during the thermal processes. The results show that implants do not affect the surface roughness and how a preliminary annealing process, before ion implantation step, can be useful in order to reduce the SFs density. It shown the effect of tuned thermal process. A kind of defect, generated by implant and subsequent annealing, can be removed by an appropriate thermal budget, while others can increase. A fine tuning of thermal process parameters, temperature and timing, is useful to recover the crystallographic quality of the epilayer and increase the yield of the power device.

In the last decades Silicon Carbide (SiC) received special attentions, in particular as semiconductor material, because is considered as alternative to Silicon for the future high-power, low consumption, radiation-hard microelectronics devices. This ambitious goal is particularly interesting also for the physics of the detectors. In this work are discussed some of the recent results obtained by SiCILIA collaboration, a joint research activity between INFN and IMM institutions to increase the level of technological development in the field of SiC detectors.

Silicon carbide is a very promising material for next generation nuclear physics experiments at high beam luminosity. Such activities require devices able to sustain high fluxes of particles (up to 1014 ions/cm2) in order to determine the cross sections of very rare nuclear phenomena. One of these activities is the NUMEN project, which aims, through the double charge exchange reactions, to impact in the determination of nuclear matrix elements entering in the expression of half-life of the neutrino-less double beta decay. Due to the very low cross sections, these features can just be explored at fluences which exceed by far those tolerated in state of the art solid state detectors, typically used in this kind of experiments. The SiC technology offers today an ideal response to such challenges, giving the opportunity to cope the excellent properties of silicon detectors with the radiation hardness, thermal stability and visible blindness of SiC material.

The high energy ions produced with intense pulsed laser were analyzed with Silicon Carbide detectors. In order to realize high performances and radiation resistant detectors, high quality and thick epitaxial layer were grown on a substrate and a Schottky diodes were then realized. These detectors were employed to probe the plasma generated with a 300 ps laser at intensity of 1016 W/cm2 operating at Prague Asterix Laser System Laboratory. They show a fast response and a high sensitivity to high energy ions. Metallic and polymeric thin films were irradiated and the produced plasmas were monitored in forward and backward directions. The analysis of the time-of-flight spectra evidences the emission of protons and ions at different energies. The spectra were deconvolved with a shifted Maxwell Boltzmann distribution. In our experimental conditions we detected protons in the energy range 1.2 – 3.0 MeV and heavy ions between 1.0 MeV up to 40 MeV depending on the target and the laser energy. The results were compared with the ones obtained by Thompson Parabola Spectrometer.

The effect of varying growth rate on the formation of defects in homo-epitaxially grown cubic silicon carbide (3C-SiC) is studied. Three growth rates are considered (30, 60 and 90 μm/hr) demonstrating that as the growth rate increases the density of point defects, as demonstrated by photo- luminescence, and stacking faults (SFs), as measured by a KOH etching procedure, increase. Scanning transmission electron microscopy images demonstrate generation, annihilation and closure of SFs as a function film thickness. High resolution X-ray diffraction is used to uncover the higher quality of homo-epitaxial with respect hetero-epitaxial films through the examination of the sample mosaicity and SF density.

In this paper, the electrical properties of a thermal oxide (SiO2) grown onto 3C-SiC layers on silicon were investigated, by monitoring the behavior of MOS capacitors. In particular, the growth rate of thermal SiO2 was dependent on the different surface roughness condition. However, independent of the roughness a high density of positive charge was detected. The sample having the smooth surface (subjected to CMP) showed a notably improved dielectric breakdown (BD) field. However, the best BD on macroscopic MOS capacitors was still far from the ideal behavior. Additional insights could be gained employing a nanoscale characterization that revealed the detrimental role of persisting extended defects in the semiconductor. In the semiconductor region far from extended defects the nanoscale BD kinetics was nearly ideal.

This paper reports on the formation and characterization of Ohmic contacts to n-type and p-type type 3C-SiC layers grown on silicon substrates. In particular, Ohmic contact behavior was obtained either using Ni or Ti/Al/Ni layers annealed at 950°C. The values of the specific contact resistance ρc estimated by means of circular TLM (C-TLM) structures varied in the range ~ 10-3-10-5 Ωcm2, depending on the doping level of the 3C-SiC layer. A structural analysis performed by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) allowed to identify the main phases formed upon annealing, i.e., Ni2Si and Al3Ni2. The morphology of the reacted contacts depended on that of the underlying substrate. The results can be useful for the development of a variety of devices on the cubic 3C-SiC polytype.

Free standing 3C-SiC wafers with a dimeter of 50 mm and a thickness of ca. 0.8 mm have been grown on a regular base using 3C-SiC CVD seed transfer from Si wafers to a poly-SiC-carrier and a sublimation epitaxy configuration. Up to the thickness of almost 1 mm, stable growth conditions of the cubic polytype have been achieved. The high supersaturation was kept stable by the proper design of the hot zone that enables a high axial temperature gradient at the growth interface. The Sirich gas phase was realized by the application of a Tantalum getter that was integrated into the graphitebased growth cell. Furthermore, an adaption of the growth setup allowed the growth of 3C material with a diameter of 95 mm and bulk material up to 3 mm on 25 mm diameter. Computer simulations were used to determine the supersaturation of the growth setup for different source-to-seed distances. The minimum supersaturation necessary for stable growth of cubic SiC was found to be higher 0.1 for seed already containing the required 3C polytype.