Ultra-high voltage power devices are employed for management of power networks. Si-based semiconductor devices
have been developed for such the power devices. Maximum breakdown voltages of Si devices are of the order of kV.
When the voltage in the power network was higher than the breakdown voltage of the devices, the devices were
connected in series. The series connection introduces high resistance and power loss.
To overcome this series resistance problem, it has been suggested that utilization of silicon carbide (SiC)
devices. SiC has much higher breakdown electric field than Si, and thus high voltage in the power networks can be
managed by SiC device without the series connection. Therefore, development of ultra-high voltage SiC device will
decrease resistance and power loss in the power networks. However, there are several difficulties to develop ultra-high
voltage SiC devices. One of the difficulties is control of the carrier lifetime. In fact, ultra-high voltage devices are
fabricated with bipolar structure, and, in the bipolar devices, the carrier lifetime is highly influential on resistance and
power loss. The carrier lifetime is limited by several factors, and one of the most important factors is the surface
recombination. Therefore, evaluation and control of the surface recombination is essential to develop ultra-high voltage
SiC devices.
In this paper, we will report evaluation techniques for the surface recombination of SiC. In addition,
dependence of the surface recombination on surface treatments, crystal faces and temperature are shown. The evaluated
surface recombination velocities will support development of ultra-high voltage SiC devices.
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