Fabrication and characterization of silicon carbide and diamond based materials and devices

The objective of this work was to create and study new and novel semiconductor materials and devices. In this case the focus has been on the Group IV materials system. New and novel alloys of Si, Ge and C have been created and studied here at the University of Delaware as new alternatives for furthering the performance and capabilities of current semiconductor technologies. The ternary alloy Si_1−x−yGe_xC_y and the binary alloys Ge_1−xC_x and Si_1−xC _x have been investigated as alternatives for use with conventional Si-based technologies. Advanced X-ray diffraction methods are detailed which allow the study of structural properties of these alloys. A cohesive theory describing the relationship between the lattice constant and optical bandgap are also presented.; New wide-bandgap semiconductor alloys have also been recently demonstrated, formed by ion implantation and recrystallization. New alloys of diamond carbon with silicon (C:Si) and germanium (C:Ge) have been invented by the author. The details of the formation of these alloys and the new heterostructure devices are discussed. Also created by the author is an alloy of silicon-carbide with germanium (SiC:Ge). New heterostructure diodes have been fabricated and their properties are discussed here. A new heterojunction current theory is derived and discussed in the text to model the behavior off the new devices. Lastly, the fabrication and electrical characteristics of the first SiC-based heterostructure bipolar transistors is discussed in detail.