Schottky contacts are investigated on n-type 4H-SiC by electrical measureme
nts and microstructural analyses to understand the behaviour of such a barr
ier. Titanium and tungsten were deposited after RCA cleaning as surface pre
paration of SiC. Electrical characterisation shows that the Fermi level is
partially pinned by interfacial surface states attributed to an interfacial
layer between the metal and the SiC. This interfacial layer is characteris
ed by X-ray reflectivity, transmission electron microscopy and Auger electr
on spectroscopy. An attempt is made to correlate microstructural observatio
ns with electrical measurements. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights
reserved.