Auger recombination coefficient in heavily nitrogen-doped 4H-SiC under high-level injection conditions

Abstract 4H-SiC is a pivotal semiconductor for high-power, high-temperature devices, where Auger recombination significantly affects performance under high carrier injection. While previously studied in lightly doped material, data for heavily doped n-type 4H-SiC remain scarce under high injection levels. This work investigates the Auger recombination coefficient ( C ) in heavily nitrogen-doped 4H-SiC via a time-resolved photoluminescence method across varied carrier concentrations and temperatures. Results show faster decay with increasing excitation and temperature, confirming the dominance of Auger recombination. The coefficient follows <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:mi>C</mml:mi> <mml:mo>∝</mml:mo> <mml:msup> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>T</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>1.19</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msup> </mml:math> , increasing from 3.0 × 10 −31 cm 6 s –1 at room temperature due to phonon interactions. These insights aid the design of high-efficiency SiC power devices.