Silicon carbide junction diode

Abstract

Abstract The production of electroluminescent silicon carbide junction diodes is described. These diodes are preferably produced by growth from a silicon carbide or carbon solution in silicon formed between a surface of a p or n-type silicon carbide base crystal and a source of carbon atoms such as a block of solid carbon. The silicon contains one or more p or n-type impurities so that a p-n junction is formed on the crystal. A small quantity of a metal selected from the group consisting of niobium and hafnium is added to the silicon to provide a continued liquid phase despite rapid evaporation of the silicon during the high temperature portion of the growth step when temperatures in excess of 2,400*C are preferably used. This provides a relatively strain-free epitaxial layer (or layers) having optimum electroluminescent properties. When multilayers are grown, the initial layer can be very thin (less than 0.0005 inch) and transparent and the second layer can be opaque and of low resistance due to codoping with boron and aluminum.

Inventors

• 👤 G Kamath

Bibliographic Details