Plasma Etching of n-Type 4H-SiC for Photoconductive Semiconductor Switch Applications

Photoconductive semiconductor switches (PCSS) fabricated on high-purity semi-insulating 4H-SiC substrates (000$$ \bar{1} $$1¯) are capable of switching high currents in compact packages with long device lifetimes. A heavily doped n-type SiC epitaxial layer of appropriate thickness is required to form low-resistance ohmic contacts with these devices. In addition, to enhance the performance of the PCSSs, the SiC surface between the ohmic contacts must be extremely smooth. We report a chlorine-based, inductively coupled plasma reactive ion-etching process yielding n-type SiC epitaxial layers with the required smoothness. The rate of etching and post-etching surface morphology were dependent on plasma conditions. We found that the surface smoothness of epitaxial layers can be improved by including BCl₃ in the argon–chlorine mixture. The optimum etching process yielded very smooth surfaces (∼0.3 nm RMS) at a relatively high rate of etching of ∼220 nm/min. This new fabrication approach significantly reduced the on-state resistance of the PCSS device and improved its durability of operation.