Hall-effect characterization of electron transport at SiO2/4H-SiC MOS interfaces

© 2015 Elsevier B.V. Magnetic-field dependent resistivity and Hall-effect measurements combined with high resolution mobility spectrum analysis (HR-MSA) were employed to study room-temperature electronic transport in 4H-SiC metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) structures. It is shown that the mobility distribution for electrons at the SiO2/SiC interface is significantly broader than expected for quantum confined carriers, exhibiting Hall scattering factors significantly greater than the generally assumed unity value. The interfacial electron mobility and Hall scattering factor are likely to be determined by potential fluctuations arising from a disordered transition layer on the SiC side of the SiO2/SiC interface. For the MOSFET structures studied, charge trapping at the SiO2/SiC interface was found to determine the interfacial free electron sheet density, in agreement with prior studies on similar device structures. HR-MSA has enabled unambiguous discrimination between electrons in the ion-implanted buried channel layer and at SiO2/SiC interface in a depletion-mode MOSFET structure.