Mechanisms of proton irradiation-induced defects on the electrical performance of 4H-SiC PIN detectors

Abstract: Silicon Carbide (SiC) demonstrates significant potential for high-energy particle detection in complex radiation environments due to its exceptional radiation resistance, excellent environmental adaptability, and fast response time. Compared to silicon (Si) detectors, SiC detectors exhibit distinct radiation resistance characteristics depending on the type of radiation exposure. Here, the mechanism of the impact of 80MeV proton irradiation on the electrical performance of 4H-SiC PIN devices is reported.Deep Level Transient Spectroscopy (DLTS) and Time-Resolved Photoluminescence (TRPL) were utilized to analyze the defect characteristics and minority carrier lifetime of 4H-SiC detectors before and after irradiation, respectively. A Deep-Level Compensation Model (DLCM) was established using open source TCAD simulation tools RAdiation SEmiconductoR (RASER) to investigate mechanism responsible for the decrease in leakage current with rising radiation intensity, as well as the constant-capacitance behavior exhibited under proton irradiation up to $7.8\times10^{14} n_{eq}/cm^2$. The establishment of the physical model opens the door for the study of the influence mechanism of irradiation defects on SiC particle detectors.