Influence of radiation damage on semiconductor properties*

Silicon carbide has excellent properties in radiation hard environments such as outer space or close to radioactive material. Thus, it is much better suited than Si to be used for the electronic components in space craft or close to radioactive material (such as monitoring nuclear fuel or waste). However, at sufficient doses and exposure times, damage accumulates in SiC, which leads to eventual failure of the device. Understanding the fundamentals of the damage accumulation process from the atomic scale is essential to predict the lifetime of the device, which is crucial for applications where the device cannot be easily exchanged. This is true for example for long-term space missions or detectors in closed radiating environments.

We are currently working on developing computer models for the damage accumulation in SiC under arbitrary neutron and gamma-ray irradiation and the dependence of the electron transport properties on the accumulated damage.

* B. Khorsandi, T. Blue, and W. Windl (to be published).