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Using positive muons as local probes implanted at low energy enablesgathering information about the material of interest with nanometer depthresolution (low energy muon spin rotation spectroscopy (LE-$\mu$SR). In thiswork, we leverage the capabilities of LE-$\mu$SR to perform an investigation ofthe SiO$_\text{2}$-SiC interface. Thermally oxidized samples are investigatedbefore and after annealing in nitric oxide (NO) and argon (Ar) ambience.Thermal oxidation is found to result in structural changes both in the SiCcrystal close to the interface and at the interface itself. Annealing in NOenvironment is known to passivate the defects leading to a reduction of thedensity of interface traps (D$_{it}$); LE-$\mu$SR further reveals that the NOannealing results in a thin layer of high carrier concentration in SiC,extending to more than 50 nm depending on the annealing conditions. We also seeindications of Si vacancy (V$_{Si}$) formation in SiC after thermal oxidation.Following NO annealing, nitrogen occupies the V$_{Si}$ sites, leading to thereduction in D$_{it}$ and at the same time, creating a charge-carrier-richregion near the interface. By comparing the LE-$\mu$SR data from a sample withknown doping density, we perform a high-resolution quantification of the freecarrier concentration near the interface after NO annealing and discuss theorigin of observed near-surface variations. Finally, the depletion of carriersin a MOS capacitor in the region below the interface is shown using LE-$\mu$SR.The NO annealed sample shows the narrowest depletion region, likely due to thereduced D$_{it}$ and charge-carrier-rich region near the interface. Ourfindings demonstrate the many benefits of utilizing LE-$\mu$SR to studycritical regions of semiconductor devices that have been inaccessible withother techniques while retaining nanoscale depth resolution and anon-destructive approach.

Investigation of the SiO2-SiC interface using low energy muon spin rotation spectroscopy