We report the development of an edge termination by depositing thin Si₃N₄ passivating film on 4H-SiC epilayer based radiation detector. The edge termination method is shown to be very effective for improving both the detector leakage current and radiation detection performance compared with that of a conventional detector fabricated from the same parent wafer. The detector leakage current was found to have improved two orders of magnitude. Significant improvement in radiation detection performance was shown from alpha spectroscopy measurements prior and subsequent to Si₃N₄ edge termination. Deep Level Transient Spectroscopy (DLTS) measurements revealed a reduction in life-time killing defects of detectors with Si₃N₄ edge termination which could be related to the observed improvements in radiation detection performance.

Date Published: 30 September 2016
PDF: 6 pages
Proc. SPIE 9968, Hard X-Ray, Gamma-Ray, and Neutron Detector Physics XVIII, 99680M (30 September 2016); doi: 10.1117/12.2238874

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9968:
Hard X-Ray, Gamma-Ray, and Neutron Detector Physics XVIII
Ralph B. James; Michael Fiederle; Arnold Burger; Larry Franks, Editor(s)