We have studied the threading dislocations of 4H-SiC substrates with different conductivity types by means of molten KOH defect selective etching.

Basal plane bending of on- and off-axis 4H-SiC substrates was measured by high-resolution X-ray diffractometry (HRXRD).

An abnormal star-like defect was found on the failed SiC gate turn-off thyristor (GTO) devices after metal removal and KOH etching at 450 °C in this work. It is of extraordinary larger size of 210–580 µm, even much larger than the etch pit of a micropipe in 4H-SiC. In addition, the abnormal star-like defect, exhibiting the consistent orientation with the six-fold symmetry of silicon carbide, was found to consist of several penetrating dislocations with the help of a LEXT OLS4000 3D laser confocal microscope. These abnormal star-like etch pits can severely reduce the forward blocking characteristic of GTOs, while exerting insignificant influence on the forward current-voltage characteristics between anode and gate electrode of the 4H-SiC GTO devices. Interestingly, the relationship between forward voltage drop and dislocation density is affected by the abnormal star-like defect. A regular increase of forward voltage drop at 100 A/cm² was observed with the increasing dislocation density, while this correlation disappears in the presence of an abnormal star-like defect.