Effect of heavy proton and neutron irradiations on epitaxial 4H-SiC Schottky diodes

In this work we report electrical characterizations on heavily irradiated epitaxial H-4-SiC Schottky diodes. Even after an irradiation at a fluence of 1.4 x 10(16) p/cm(2) and 7 x 10(15) n/cm(2), we found the diodes still able to detect alpha and beta particles with a charge collection efficiency (CCE) ranging from 25 to 30% after proton irradiation and about 18% after neutron irradiation, at the highest reverse bias applied. This corresponds to a charge collection distance (CCD) of 7 mu m after the proton irradiation and 5 mu m after the neutron irradiation. As the irradiation level approaches the range similar to 10(15)/cm(2), the material behaves as intrinsic due to a very high compensation effect.