Experimental results on lateral 4H-SiC UV photodiodes

Abstract

In this paper we report the experimental results of lateral 4H-SiC UV p-i-n photodiodes, whose p-type anode and n-type cathode regions are made by Aluminum and Nitrogen, respectively, ion-implantation. The dark reverse current is −31.5pA at −10V and increases at −1.24nA under 320nm UV radiation with an optical power at the surface of the device equal to 7.5nW. The peak of the responsivity is 0.074A/W at 0V and 0.169AAV at −10V for 320nm, corresponding to an external quantum efficiency of, respectively, 30% and 69%. Respect to other proposed photodiodes, our devices are fully compatible with standard 4H-SiC device process fabrication and they can be easily integrated in an electronic circuit.