全部 标题 作者
关键词 摘要

OALib Journal期刊
ISSN: 2333-9721
费用:99美元

查看量下载量

相关文章

更多...

Ab Initio Carrier Transport Dynamics and Defect Engineering in Doped 3C-SiC for Power Electronics

DOI: 10.4236/ampc.2026.168018, PP. 309-332

Keywords: Cubic Silicon Carbide (3C-SiC), Defect Engineering, Co-Doping, Effective Mass, Quantum ESPRESSO, BoltzTraP, Power Electronics

Full-Text   Cite this paper   Add to My Lib

Abstract:

Cubic-Silicon Carbide (3C-SiC) is a premier alternative to Silicon in medium-voltage (600 - 1200 V) power applications due to its isotropic electron transport and reduced interface trap densities. Resolving the chronic high-resistance p-type transport bottleneck is critical to achieving high-fidelity 3C-SiC power electronics. This study investigates the impact of selected intrinsic and extrinsic point defects on the electronic structure and carrier transport dynamics of 3C-SiC using first-principles DFT calculations in Quantum ESPRESSO and BoltzTraP. Electronic band structures and projected density of states reveal a localized restructuring of the bands via orbital hybridization in the Nitrogen-Phosphorus (NCPSi) co-doping complex. This engineering strategy yields an ultra-light hole effective mass of 0.2282 m 0 , due to valence band sharpening, creating a high-mobility pathway capable of eliminating drift region resistance bottlenecks in p-channel unipolar and bipolar device architectures. Transport simulations identify phosphorus-at-silicon site (PSi) substitution as the optimal configuration for stable mobility in the 300 - 600 K temperature range. Furthermore, transport modeling identifies 1018 cm?3 carrier concentration as the optimal engineering threshold, ensuring thermal stability across the 350 - 500 K device operational window. These discoveries provide a robust computational design road-map for utilizing selective-defect engineering strategies to surpass current mobility ceilings in next generation 3C-SiC semiconductor applications in power electronics.

References

[1]  Li, F., Roccaforte, F., Greco, G., Fiorenza, P., La Via, F., Pérez-Tomas, A., et al. (2021) Status and Prospects of Cubic Silicon Carbide Power Electronics Device Technology. Materials, 14, Article 5831.
https://doi.org/10.3390/ma14195831
[2]  Okumura, H. (2015) A Roadmap for Future Wide Bandgap Semiconductor Power Electronics. MRS Bulletin, 40, 439-444.
https://doi.org/10.1557/mrs.2015.97
[3]  Kimoto, T. and Watanabe, H. (2020) Defect Engineering in SiC Technology for High-Voltage Power Devices. Applied Physics Express, 13, Article 120101.
https://doi.org/10.35848/1882-0786/abc787
[4]  Capan, I. (2025) Electrically Active Defects in 3C, 4H, and 6H Silicon Carbide Polytypes: A Review. Crystals, 15, Article 255.
https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst15030255
[5]  Viewegh, N., Holloway, H., Biggerstaff, R., Herzog, J.B. and Stanley, C.M. (2026) Wide Bandgap Semiconductors for Power Electronics: Comparative Properties, Applications, and Reliability of GaN and SiC Devices. Hardware, 4, Article 6.
https://doi.org/10.3390/hardware4010006
[6]  La Via, F., Severino, A., Anzalone, R., Bongiorno, C., Litrico, G., Mauceri, M., et al. (2018) From Thin Film to Bulk 3C-SiC Growth: Understanding the Mechanism of Defects Reduction. Materials Science in Semiconductor Processing, 78, 57-68.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mssp.2017.12.012
[7]  Van Zeghbroeck, B.J. and Fardi, H. (2018) Comparison of 3C-SiC and 4H-SiC Power MOSFETs. Materials Science Forum, 924, 774-777.
https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/msf.924.774
[8]  La Via, F., Zimbone, M., Bongiorno, C., La Magna, A., Fisicaro, G., Deretzis, I., et al. (2021) New Approaches and Understandings in the Growth of Cubic Silicon Carbide. Materials, 14, Article 5348.
https://doi.org/10.3390/ma14185348
[9]  Brzozowski, E., Kaminski, M., Taube, A., Sadowski, O., Krol, K. and Guziewicz, M. (2023) Carrier Trap Density Reduction at SiO2/4H-Silicon Carbide Interface with Annealing Processes in Phosphoryl Chloride and Nitride Oxide Atmospheres. Materials, 16, Article 4381.
https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16124381
[10]  Kim, K.Y., Noh, J.S., Yoon, T.Y. and Kim, J.H. (2021) Improvement in Turn-Off Loss of the Super Junction IGBT with Separated N-Buffer Layers. Micromachines, 12, Article 1422.
https://doi.org/10.3390/mi12111422
[11]  Wang, J., Xie, X., Zhong, G., Chen, X., Yang, X., Sun, L., et al. (2026) Toward Low-Resistivity P-Type Sic Single Crystals: Controlling Doping and Defects. Progress in Crystal Growth and Characterization of Materials, 72, Article 100708.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pcrysgrow.2026.100708
[12]  Calabretta, C., Scuderi, V., Anzalone, R., Mauceri, M., Crippa, D., Cannizzaro, A., et al. (2021) Effect of Nitrogen and Aluminum Doping on 3C-SiC Heteroepitaxial Layers Grown on 4° Off-Axis Si (100). Materials, 14, Article 4400.
https://doi.org/10.3390/ma14164400
[13]  Kimoto, T. (2015) Material Science and Device Physics in Sic Technology for High-Voltage Power Devices. Japanese Journal of Applied Physics, 54, Article 040103.
https://doi.org/10.7567/jjap.54.040103
[14]  Sun, L., Peng, B. and Zhang, W. (2025) First-Principles Study on the Stability, Electronic Structure, and Optical Properties of Neutral Phosphorus-Related Point Defects in 4H-SiC. AIP Advances, 15, Article 045220.
https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0266074
[15]  Sch?ler, M., Lederer, M.W., Schuh, P. and Wellmann, P.J. (2020) Intentional Incorporation and Tailoring of Point Defects during Sublimation Growth of Cubic Silicon Carbide by Variation of Process Parameters. Physica Status Solidi (B), 257, Article 1900286.
https://doi.org/10.1002/pssb.201900286
[16]  Wu, J., Xu, Z., Liu, L., Hartmaier, A., Rommel, M., Nordlund, K., et al. (2021) MD Simulation Study on Defect Evolution and Doping Efficiency of P-Type Doping of 3C-SiC by Al Ion Implantation with Subsequent Annealing. Journal of Materials Chemistry C, 9, 2258-2275.
https://doi.org/10.1039/d0tc05374k
[17]  Bathen, M.E., Lew, C.T.K., Woerle, J., Dorfer, C., Grossner, U., Castelletto, S., et al. (2022) Characterization Methods for Defects and Devices in Silicon Carbide. Journal of Applied Physics, 131, Article 140903.
https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0077299
[18]  Ramakers, S., Marusczyk, A., Amsler, M., Eckl, T., Mrovec, M., Hammerschmidt, T., et al. (2022) Effects of Thermal, Elastic, and Surface Properties on the Stability of SiC Polytypes. Physical Review B, 106, Article 075201.
https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.106.075201
[19]  Hasan, S., San, S., Baral, K., Li, N., Rulis, P. and Ching, W. (2022) First-Principles Calculations of Thermoelectric Transport Properties of Quaternary and Ternary Bulk Chalcogenide Crystals. Materials, 15, Article 2843.
https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15082843
[20]  Madsen, G.K.H. and Singh, D.J. (2006) BoltzTraP. A Code for Calculating Band-Structure Dependent Quantities. Computer Physics Communications, 175, 67-71.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpc.2006.03.007
[21]  Tan, C.S. (2023) Electrical Conductivity Improvement of Point Defects in 4H-SiC. Crystal Growth & Design, 23, 6250-6257.
https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.cgd.3c00611
[22]  Giannozzi, P., Baroni, S., Bonini, N., Calandra, M., Car, R., Cavazzoni, C., et al. (2009) QUANTUM ESPRESSO: A Modular and Open-Source Software Project for Quantum Simulations of Materials. Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, 21, Article 395502.
https://doi.org/10.1088/0953-8984/21/39/395502
[23]  Kresse, G. and Joubert, D. (1999) From Ultrasoft Pseudopotentials to the Projector Augmented-Wave Method. Physical Review B, 59, 1758-1775.
https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.59.1758
[24]  Gra?ulis, S., Chateigner, D., Downs, R.T., Yokochi, A.F.T., Quirós, M., Lutterotti, L., et al. (2009) Crystallography Open Database—An Open-Access Collection of Crystal Structures. Journal of Applied Crystallography, 42, 726-729.
https://doi.org/10.1107/s0021889809016690
[25]  Giannozzi, P., Andreussi, O., Brumme, T., Bunau, O., Buongiorno Nardelli, M., Calandra, M., et al. (2017) Advanced Capabilities for Materials Modelling with Quantum ESPRESSO. Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, 29, Article 465901.
https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-648x/aa8f79
[26]  Monkhorst, H.J. and Pack, J.D. (1976) Special Points for Brillouin-Zone Integrations. Physical Review B, 13, 5188-5192.
https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.13.5188
[27]  Methfessel, M. and Paxton, A.T. (1989) High-Precision Sampling for Brillouin-Zone Integration in Metals. Physical Review B, 40, 3616-3621.
https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.40.3616
[28]  Virtanen, P., Gommers, R., Oliphant, T.E., Haberland, M., Reddy, T., Cournapeau, D., et al. (2020) SciPy 1.0: Fundamental Algorithms for Scientific Computing in Python. Nature Methods, 17, 352.
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41592-020-0772-5
[29]  Fritsch, F.N. and Carlson, R.E. (1980) Monotone Piecewise Cubic Interpolation. SIAM Journal on Numerical Analysis, 17, 238-246.
https://doi.org/10.1137/0717021
[30]  Jiang, S., Li, Y., Chen, Z., Zhu, W., Wu, Q., He, H., et al. (2022) The Effects of Defects on the Defect Formation Energy, Electronic Band Structure, and Electron Mobility in 4H-SiC. AIP Advances, 12, Article 065311.
https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0095061
[31]  Fan, T., Liu, W., Ruan, Z., Cao, Y., Ye, T., Liu, J., et al. (2022) First-Principles Investigation of Effects of Defects on the Physical Properties of 3C-SiC under High Temperatures and Pressures. Journal of Materials Research and Technology, 20, 3633-3645.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmrt.2022.08.017
[32]  Zhang, Y., Jiang, S., Li, Y., Chen, C., Chen, Z. and Wang, X. (2024) The Influence of Point Defects on the Electronic Structures and Optical Properties of 3C-SiC. AIP Advances, 14, Article 055009.
https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0205402
[33]  Qian, T.J. and Yang, J.H. (2025) First-Principles Studies of Nitrogen Doping in 4H-SiC. Journal of Applied Physics, 137, Article 215701.
https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0257680
[34]  Bouzid, A. and Pasquarello, A. (2017) Identification of Semiconductor Defects through Constant-Fermi-Level Ab Initio Molecular Dynamics: Application to GaAs. Physical Review Applied, 8, Article 014010.
https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevapplied.8.014010
[35]  Muchiri, P., Kipronoh, K., Makau, N. and Amolo, G. (2018) Ab Initio Calculation of Structural and Electronic Properties of 3C-Silicon Carbide: Density Functional Theory Calculations.
https://ir.kabarak.ac.ke/items/63483321-e232-4b13-b400-9e275913b96d
[36]  Jiang, S., Hu, C., Wang, D., Zhong, Y. and Tang, C. (2023) Electronic, Optical, Mechanical, and Electronic Transport Properties of SrCu2O2: A First-Principles Study. Materials, 16, Article 1829.
https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16051829
[37]  Togo, A., Chaput, L., Tadano, T. and Tanaka, I. (2023) Implementation Strategies in Phonopy and Phono3py. Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, 35, Article 353001.
https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-648x/acd831
[38]  Kang, S., Fan, S. and Hu, G. (2025) Great Reduction of the Hole Effective Mass in Wide Bandgap Semiconductors by Highly Mismatched Alloying. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 27, 5694-5700.
https://doi.org/10.1039/d4cp03957b
[39]  Dou, Y.K., Qi, X., Jin, H.B., Cao, M.S., Zahid, U. and Hou, Z.L. (2012) First Principle Study of the Electronic Properties of 3C-SiC Doped with Different Amounts of Ni. Chinese Physics Letters, 29, Article 077701.
https://doi.org/10.1088/0256-307x/29/7/077701
[40]  Liu, Z., Yang, X., He, X. and Sun, Y. (2026) Computational Screening of Bonding-Controlled Electronic Structures in One-Dimensional Cu/Ag-Based Hybrid Semiconductors. Materials, 19, Article 1393.
https://doi.org/10.3390/ma19071393
[41]  Huang, Z., Guo, X., Yang, Y., Sheng, D., Li, H., Wang, Y., et al. (2025) Thermal Conductivity of Cubic Silicon Carbide Single Crystals Heavily Doped by Nitrogen. Journal of Applied Physics, 138, Article 215104.
https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0297824
[42]  Kinaci, A., Kado, M., Rosenmann, D., Ling, C., Zhu, G., Banerjee, D., et al. (2015) Electronic Transport in VO2—Experimentally Calibrated Boltzmann Transport Modeling. Applied Physics Letters, 107, Article 262108.
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4938555
[43]  Meng, F., Ma, J., He, J. and Li, W. (2019) Phonon-Limited Carrier Mobility and Temperature-Dependent Scattering Mechanism of 3C-SiC from First Principles. Physical Review B, 99, Article 045201.
https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.99.045201
[44]  Li, Z., Graziosi, P. and Neophytou, N. (2022) Electron and Hole Mobility of SnO2 from Full-Band Electron-Phonon and Ionized Impurity Scattering Computations. Crystals, 12, Article 1591.
https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst12111591
[45]  Fardi, H. (2025) Study of 3C-SiC Power MOSFETs. Micromachines, 16, Article 1406.
https://doi.org/10.3390/mi16121406
[46]  Tobehn-Steinh?user, I., Reiche, M., Schmelz, M., Stolz, R., Fr?hlich, T. and Ortlepp, T. (2021) Carrier Mobility in Semiconductors at Very Low Temperatures. The 8th International Symposium on Sensor Science, Dresden, 16-17 May 2021, 2-3.
[47]  Jennings, J.R. (2025) Carrier Transport and Recombination in Sensitized Nanostructured TiO2. In: Pan, J.H., Lee, W.I. and Bahnemann, D.W., Nanostructured TiO2, Wiley, 159-184.
[48]  Alkauskas, A., Yan, Q.M. and Van de Walle, C.G. (2014) First-Principles Theory of Nonradiative Carrier Capture via Multiphonon Emission. Physical Review B, 90, Article 075202.
https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.90.075202

Full-Text

Contact Us

service@oalib.com

QQ:3279437679

WhatsApp +8615387084133