*Article* **Advances in High-Resolution Radiation Detection Using 4H-SiC Epitaxial Layer Devices**

#### **Krishna C. Mandal \*, Joshua W. Kleppinger and Sandeep K. Chaudhuri**

Department of Electrical Engineering, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, USA; jwk@email.sc.edu (J.W.K.); chaudhsk@mailbox.sc.edu (S.K.C.)

**\*** Correspondence: mandalk@cec.sc.edu; Tel.: +1-803-777-2722

Received: 29 January 2020; Accepted: 25 February 2020; Published: 28 February 2020

**Abstract:** Advances towards achieving the goal of miniature 4H-SiC based radiation detectors for harsh environment application have been studied extensively and reviewed in this article. The miniaturized devices were developed at the University of South Carolina (UofSC) on 8 × 8 mm 4H-SiC epitaxial layer wafers with an active area of ≈11 mm2. The thicknesses of the actual epitaxial layers were either 20 or 50 μm. The article reviews the investigation of defect levels in 4H-SiC epilayers and radiation detection properties of Schottky barrier devices (SBDs) fabricated in our laboratories at UofSC. Our studies led to the development of miniature SBDs with superior quality radiation detectors with highest reported energy resolution for alpha particles. The primary findings of this article shed light on defect identification in 4H-SiC epilayers and their correlation with the radiation detection properties.

**Keywords:** silicon carbide; 4H-SiC, epitaxial layer; Schottky barrier; radiation detector; point defects; deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS); thermally stimulated current spectroscopy (TSC); electron beam induced current spectroscopy (EBIC); pulse height spectroscopy (PHS)
