Patent ID: 6884644

Claim:
A method for forming an ohmic contact to silicon carbide ( 12 ) for a semiconductor device, the method comprising: implanting at room temperature a selected dopant material into a surface of a silicon carbide substrate ( 12 ) thereby forming a layer ( 16 ) on the silicon carbide substrate having an increased concentration of dopant material; annealing the implanted silicon carbide substrate a first time; growing at least one epitaxial layer of a compound other than SiC that dissociates below the dissociation temperature at SiC ( 14 ) on the silicon carbide substrate opposite the implanted surface; depositing a layer of metal ( 18 ) on the implanted surface of the silicon carbide substrate ( 12 ); and thereafter annealing the metal ( 18 ) and the implanted silicon carbide substrate ( 12 , 16 ) a second time at a temperature below that at which significant degradation of the compound forming the epitaxial layer ( 14 ) would occur, but high enough to form an ohmic contact between the implanted silicon carbide ( 12 , 16 ) and the deposited metal.