Planar edge termination for 4H-silicon carbide devices

In this paper, it is demonstrated that the edge termination for 6H-SiC based upon self-aligned-implantation of a neutral species on the edges of devices to form an amorphous layer can also be applied to 4H-SiC inspite of differences in their band structures. With this termination formed using argon implantation on Schottky barrier diodes, breakdown voltages were found to exceed those reported for mesa edge terminated diodes, Based upon this, it can be concluded that nearly ideal breakdown voltage is also achievable in 4H-SiC devices by using this planar edge termination.