Solid-state microwave annealing of ion-implanted 4H-SiC

Solid-state microwave annealing was performed at temperatures up to 2120 °C for 30 s on ion-implanted 4H-SiC in N₂ ambient. The surface roughness in the samples annealed without a surface cap at 1950 °C is 2.65 nm for 10 μm × 10 μm atomic force microscopy scans. The sheet resistances measured on Al⁺- and P⁺-implanted 4H-SiC, annealed by microwaves, are lower than the best conventional furnace annealing results reported in literature. X-ray diffraction spectra indicate alleviation of the lattice damage induced by the ion-implantation and also incorporation of most of the implanted species into substitutional lattice sites.