Soft X-ray emission study of thermally treated Ni(film)/4H–SiC(substrate) interface

Abstract Deposition of Ni as contact on 4H–SiC has been investigated. Ni/4H–SiC samples were annealed at temperatures of 600, 800 and 950 °C for 30 min and were non-destructively characterized by soft X-ray emission spectroscopy (SXES) using synchrotron radiation as excitation. Si L2,3 SXE showed the formation of Ni2Si for all annealing temperatures. The C K SXE indicated the formation of graphite and graphitic carbons at annealing temperatures of 950 °C and below 800 °C, respectively.