Average energy dissipated by mega-electron-volt hydrogen and helium ions per electron-hole pair generation in 4H-SIC

The pulse height response for He and H ions with energies between 1 and 6 MeV incident upon n-type 4H-SiC epitaxial Schottky diodes has been investigated. The average amount of energy, E, given up by the incident radiation to form electron-hole pair in this material was obtained by comparison with the average energy loss per pair in silicon detectors and it was found to be (7.78±0.05) eV at room temperature. This value is smaller than that foreseen by Klein’s semiempirical linear relationship between E and the semiconductor band gap.