Low-temperature annealing of lightly doped $n$-4$H$-SiC layers after irradiation with fast electrons

The effect of low-temperature (up to 600$^{\circ}$C) isothermal and isochronous annealing on the electrical characteristics of irradiated $n$-4$H$-SiC JBS Schottky diodes is studied. Irradiation is performed with 0.9-MeV electrons at a dose of 1 $\times$ 10$^{16}$ cm$^{-2}$. It is shown that the forward current–voltage (I – V) and capacitance–voltage (C – V) characteristics of the irradiated diodes are mainly restored at annealing temperatures of up to 300$^{\circ}$C. As the annealing temperature is raised to 500$^{\circ}$C, nearly 90% of the defects introduced by irradiation with fast electrons are annealed out. The possible recommended mode of stabilizing annealing to be used in radiation-defect engineering (RDE) is 500$^{\circ}$C, 30 min.