Papers by Author: Holger Schmitt

Abstract: Several SiC bulk crystals were grown with erbium and ytterbium as doping materials. Erbium contents determined by secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) ranged from 1.2 · 1014 cm-3 to 1.04 · 1015 cm-3, while ytterbium contents were below SIMS detection limit. Photoluminescence (PL) investigations of the characteristic 4f-4f-transition lines revealed a reduced luminescence yield in highly nitrogen and aluminum co-doped samples. Also, samples without intentional co-doping grown on the C-face showed less luminescence intensity than those grown on the Si-face. A stabilizing effect of erbium doping on the 4H polytype was observed.

Abstract: Several highly aluminum doped SiC bulk crystals were grown with a modified PVT (MPVT) method. To facilitate 4H-SiC formation, growth was conducted on the C-face. The samples were investigated using Hall measurements in the Van-der-Pauw geometry. Lowest room temperature values for specific resistivities were 0.09 Ωcm for 6H-SiC and 0.2 Ωcm for 4H-SiC, which are to our knowledge the lowest values yet reported in literature. Thus, resistivity values of < 0.2 Ωcm, which are required for substrates in high power device applications, could be demonstrated for 4HSiC. Remarkably, in very highly doped samples the type of conduction could not be determined by Hall measurements.

Abstract: We review the development of a modified physical vapor transport (M-PVT) growth technique for the preparation of SiC single crystals which makes use of an additional gas pipe into the growth cell. While the gas phase composition is basically fixed in conventional physical vapor transport (PVT) growth by crucible design and temperature field, the gas inlet of the MPVT configuration allows the direct tuning of the gas phase composition for improved growth conditions. The phrase "additional" means that only small amounts of extra gases are supplied in order to fine-tune the gas phase composition. We discuss the experimental implementation of the extra gas pipe and present numerical simulations of temperature field and mass transport in the new growth configuration. The potential of the growth technique will be outlined by showing the improvements achieved for p-type doping of 4H-SiC with aluminum, i.e. [Al]=9⋅1019cm-3 and ρ<0.2Ωcm, and n-type doping of SiC with phosphorous, i.e. [P]=7.8⋅1017cm-3.