  Aluminum oxide (Al2O3) has been grown by atomic layer deposition on n-type
4H-SiC with and without a thin silicon dioxide (SiO2) intermediate layer. By
means of Capacitance Voltage and Thermal Dielectric Relaxation Current
measurements, the interface properties have been investigated. Whereas for the
samples with an interfacial SiO2 layer the highest near-interface trap density
is found at 0.3 eV below the conduction band edge, Ec, the samples with only
the Al2O3 dielectric exhibit a nearly trap free region close to Ec. For the
Al2O3/SiC interface, the highest trap density appears between 0.4 to 0.6 eV
below Ec. The results indicate the possibility for SiC-based MOSFETs with Al2O3
as the gate dielectric layer in future high performance devices.
