Peak Response Wavelength Tunable 4H-SiC UV Detector Covering Near-Ultraviolet Region With High-Temperature Stability and Radiation Hardness

In this work, a high-performance 4H-silicon carbide (SiC) photodiode with a tunable peak response wavelength is demonstrated. Based on the epilayer structure design featuring a charge control layer and 20-<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mu $ </tex-math></inline-formula>m-thick lightly doped absorbing layer, photoresponse regions covering near-ultraviolet (UV-A and UV-B) and UV-C bands have been achieved. Extremely low dark current of 0.2 pA is preserved even at operation temperature up to <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$200~^{\circ }$ </tex-math></inline-formula>C, where the responsivity remains 183 mA/W at 310 nm with minor degradation. Meanwhile, mode switching could be achieved with bias variation below 30 V. The specific heavy ion irradiation experiment has also been conducted considering the particularly large energy deposition accompanied with thick absorption layer, where superior radiation hardness is validated with ion energy over 1 GeV. Additionally, the detector shows advantageous ruggedness against the <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$600~^{\circ }$ </tex-math></inline-formula>C high-temperature storage. Last but not least, this two-operation-mode detector with thick absorption layer preserves superior dynamic performance with response time below <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$1~\mu $ </tex-math></inline-formula>s.