Femtosecond laser–assisted thermal annealing of Ni electrode on SiC substrate

Abstract

Alloying at the metal–semiconductor interface induced by femtosecond laser irradiation associated with thermal annealing was examined to ascertain whether an ohmic contact was formed on silicon carbide (SiC). In general, the electric field of the femtosecond laser beam destroys the crystal structure, but with lower thermal damage around the irradiated areas. In addition to the laser irradiation, we employed thermal annealing to enhance the diffusion of the metal atoms inside the SiC. After these processes, an ohmic contact was successfully formed on the SiC with thermal annealing at a temperature of 900 °C, which is 100 °C lower than with the conventional thermal annealing method.