A diode and a method of making same has a cathode an anode and one or more semiconductor layers disposed between the cathode and the anode. A dielectric layer is disposed between at least one of the one or more semiconductor layers and at least one of the cathode or anode, the dielectric layer having one or more openings or trenches formed therein through which the at least one of said cathode or anode projects into the at least one of the one or more semiconductor layers, wherein a ratio of a total surface area of the one or more openings or trenches formed in the dielectric layer at the at least one of the one or more semiconductor layers to a total surface area of the dielectric layer at the at least one of the one or more semiconductor layers is no greater than 0.25.

A method of manufacturing a silicon carbide semiconductor device includes a step of preparing a silicon carbide substrate having a first main surface and a second main surface located opposite to the first main surface, a step of forming a doped region in the silicon carbide substrate by doping the first main surface with an impurity, a step of forming a first protecting film on the first main surface, and a step of forming a second protecting film on the second main surface, the step of forming a first protecting film being performed after the step of forming a doped region, the method further including a step of activating the impurity included in the doped region by annealing with at least a portion of the first main surface covered with the first protecting film and at least a portion of the second main surface covered with the second protecting film.

A semiconductor device comprises: a semiconductor layer; and an insulating film that is formed on the semiconductor layer. The insulating film includes an insulating layer that is mainly made of negatively charged microcrystal.

A method of producing a silicon carbide epitaxial substrate includes steps of: preparing a silicon carbide substrate; and forming a silicon carbide layer on the silicon carbide substrate. In this production method, in the step of forming the silicon carbide layer, a step of growing an epitaxial layer and a step of polishing a surface of the epitaxial layer are repeated twice or more.

An epitaxial growth apparatus includes: a reaction vessel where a semiconductor film made of silicon carbide is epitaxially grown on a substrate; a tray having a top surface, a bottom surface, and an indentation in the top surface that houses the substrate, a thickness of the tray near a center of the indentation being greater than a thickness of the tray near an edge of the indentation as measured from a bottom of the indentation to the bottom surface of the tray; and a support plate inside the reaction vessel that mounts the tray thereon so as to thermally contact the tray, thereby heating the tray.

A multilayer graphene, a method of forming the same, a device including the multilayer graphene, and a method of manufacturing the device are provided. In the method of forming the multilayer graphene, a first graphene is formed on an underlayer, and then a multilayer graphene is formed by exposing two adjacent areas on the first graphene to a source gas. By differentiating temperatures and source gasses, the multilayer graphene has different electrical characteristics in the two adjacent areas.

A semiconductor device includes an n.sup.+ type silicon carbide substrate, and in the substrate an active region where primary current flows and an edge termination area surrounding the active region. The semiconductor device has a first p-type region and a second p-type region in the edge termination area, and the first p-type region includes therein a plurality of third p-type regions, and the second p-type region includes therein a plurality of fourth p-type regions. The widths between the respective plurality of third p-type regions and the widths between the respective plurality of fourth p-type regions become greater further away from the active region.

A target made of a metal material is sputtered to form a metal film on a silicon carbide wafer. At this time, the metal film is formed under a condition that an incident energy of incidence, on the silicon carbide wafer, of the metal material sputtered from the target and a sputtering gas flowed in through a gas inlet port is lower than a binding energy of silicon carbide, and more specifically lower than 4.8 eV. For example, the metal film is formed while a high-frequency voltage applied between a cathode and an anode is set to be equal to or higher than 20V and equal to or lower than 300V.

A semiconductor device includes a first conductivity type semiconductor layer that includes a wide bandgap semiconductor and a surface. A trench, including a side wall and a bottom wall, is formed in the semiconductor layer surface, and a Schottky electrode is connected to the surface. Opposite edge portions of the bottom wall of the trench each include a radius of curvature, R, satisfying the expression 0.01 L<R<10 L, where L represents the straight-line distance in a width direction of the trench between the opposite edge portions.

An embodiment of a semiconductor device includes a semiconductor substrate that includes an upper surface and a channel, a gate electrode disposed over the substrate electrically coupled to the channel, and a Schottky metal layer disposed over the substrate adjacent the gate electrode. The Schottky metal layer includes a Schottky contact electrically coupled to the channel which provides a Schottky junction and at least one alignment mark disposed over the semiconductor substrate. A method for fabricating the semiconductor device includes creating an isolation region that defines an active region along an upper surface of a semiconductor substrate, forming a gate electrode over the semiconductor substrate in the active region, and forming a Schottky metal layer over the semiconductor substrate. Forming the Schottky metal layer includes forming at least one Schottky contact electrically coupled to the channel and providing a Schottky junction, and forming an alignment mark in the isolation region.