Reliability of Pt ohmic contact on an undoped 3C-SiC micro-electrothermal device

The objective of this paper is to investigate the reliability of platinum (Pt) ohmic metallization on an undoped 3C-SiC. The Pt layer is deposited on a SiC fabricated microcantilever using focused ion beam technique. The purpose of the Pt layers is to act as electrodes to generate electrothermal actuation from joule effect. The results showed an excellent ohmic contact formation. Over a period of storage at room temperature, deterioration of the ohmic contact had occurred. The effect of Schottky contact on the required power was also investigated by observing the decrease in the magnitude of the electrothermally vibrating device. An increase of resistance from 1 KΩ to few hundred KΩs was also reported.