Effects of Nitrogen Doping on Basal Plane Dislocation Reduction in 8° Off-Cut 4H-SiC Epilayers

The effectiveness of an in-situ growth interrupt in nitrogen doped 8° off-cut epilayers was investigated using ultraviolet photoluminescence imaging. Low-doped n-type epilayers (<1016 cm-3) exhibited an abrupt increase in BPD to TED conversion at the growth interrupt and achieved 96-99% conversion overall (< 10 BPDs/cm-2), while high-doped epilayers had minimal conversion at the interrupt (< 1%) and overall (< 30%). This large discrepancy suggests nitrogen prohibits or alters the conversion mechanism at the growth interrupt. Therefore, a novel SEM technique was developed to "freeze-in" the interface morphology and help elucidate the conversion mechanism. Preliminary results suggest that preferential etching at the point of BPD intersection with the surface is greatly reduced in highly doped layers, which inhibits the conversion mechanism.