Abstract: The electrical contact properties of Co/4H-SiC structures are investigated. A carbon interfacial layer between a Co film and SiC is used to improve the Ohmic contact properties significantly. The C film is deposited prior to Co film deposition on SiC using DC sputtering. The high quality Ohmic contact and specific contact resistivity of 2.30 × 10^-6Ω·cm² are obtained for Co/C/SiC structures after two-step annealing at 500 ℃ for 10 min and 1050 ℃ for 3 min. The physical properties of the contacts are examined by using XRD. The results indicate that the Co-based metal contacts have better structural stability of silicide phases formed after the high temperature annealing and carbon-enriched layer is produced below the contact, playing a key role in forming an Ohmic contact through the reduction of effective Schottky barrier height for the transport of electrons. The thermal stability of Au/Co/C/SiC Ohmic contacts is investigated. The contacts remain Ohmic on doped n-type (2.8 × 10¹⁸ cm^-3) 4H-SiC after thermal aging treatment at 500 ℃ for 20 h.

Key words: ohmic contacts, SiC, contact properties, carbon-enriched layer, stability