Multiscale Modeling and Analysis of the Nitridation Effect of SiC/SiO2 Interface

We explain the role of nitrogen in simultaneously increasing the inversion channel mobility and reducing the threshold voltage of SiC MOSFET. A variety of computational techniques have been used to compute the atomic scale configuration of a nitridated SiC/SiO2 interface, and the corresponding change in Fermi level, inversion channel mobility, and threshold voltage. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) has been used to investigate the SiC/SiO2 interface to determine the nitrogen concentrations and chemical bonding. We elucidate the physics behind improved channel mobility due to NO anneal and demonstrate that the trade-off between threshold voltage and inversion channel mobility can be correlated to the extent of nitridation.