Thermally stable SiC MESFET with iridium oxide gate electrode

Abstract

Thermally stable SiC MESFET using iridium-oxide (IrO2) gate contact has been demonstrated and compared with conventionally used Ni Schottky contact. It was found that the IrO2 Schottky contact is thermally stable and no distinct change of device performances was observed even after annealing at 450degreesC for 15 h. This is because the IrO2 suppressed the interdiffusion of the contact metals into the SiC substrate. It is suggested that IrO2 is a promising candidate as gate electrode for high-temperature SiC MESFETs.