Papers by Author: Koji Sato

Abstract: Threading dislocations (TDs) in 4H-SiC have been studied by comparing etch pits formed by NaOH vapor etching with results of synchrotron monochromatic-beam X-ray topography (XRT) taken under different g-vectors. Burgers vectors determined based on XRT results were utilized to investigate the etch pit characteristics of edge (TED), screw (TSD) and mixed (Burgers vector b=c+a, TMD) threading dislocations. It has been found that pit formation by NaOH vapor etching was very different to that by conventional molten KOH etching. We discuss the possibility of using NaOH vapor etching to distinguish TMDs from TSDs, and report a variety of characteristic etch pits formed by this method and their correlations to dislocation behavior.

Abstract: To remove the surface damages induced during mechanical polishing (MP) of 4H-SiC, a variety of wet etching recipes and etching conditions were studied. By evaluating the epilayers grown on these etching-treated wafers, it has been found that triangular defects (TRDs) are the main defects originated from the MP-induced damages in these samples. High temperature molten KCl etching at 1100 °C with KOH additive is very effective to remove the damaged surface while keeping a relatively flat surface. Epilayer grown on the KCl+KOH etched wafer showed a TRD density <0.9 cm^-2.

Abstract: High temperature (>1000 °C) chemical etching using molten KCl or molten KCl+KOH as the etchant has been carried out to remove the mechanical-polishing (MP) induced damage layer from 4H-SiC surface. Atomic force microscopy observations have shown that line-shaped surface scratches that have appeared on the as-MPed surface could be completely removed by KCl-only etching or by KCl+KOH etching (KCl:KOH=99:1 in weight) at ~1100 °C. Between the two recipes, KCl+KOH etching has shown a higher etch rate (6~7 times) and is able to remove ~9 μm and ~36 μm-thick damage layer from the Si (0001) and the C(000-1) surface, respectively. Besides, KCl+KOH etching seems to have formed a Si (0001) surface covered with atomic steps while KCl-only etched surface is featured with nanometer-scale pores.

Abstract: The damage induced at the cut surface of SiC crystal by slicing were investigated by Raman scattering method and transmission electron microscopy. Electric discharge machining (EDM) predominately forms cracks, silicon, carbon and 3C-SiC by 6H-SiC pyrolysis and wiresawing with loose abrasive (WSLA) induces triangular crystal disordered area, stacking faults and dislocation loop bundles by stressing at the cut surfaces of SiC crystal.

Abstract: In this paper, we report a newly developed dislocation-revealing etch pit method for 4H-SiC single crystal, which can distinguish edge (TED, Burgers vector b=a), elementary screw (TSD, b=1c) and mixed (TMD, b=c+a) threading dislocations. In this method, vaporized NaOH gas was used to etch the Si-face of a SiC wafer at substrate temperature around 950 °C. By a side-by-side comparison between the optical images of the etch pits and the X-ray topographic (XRT) images, it has been found that threading dislocations (TDs) in SiC could be revealed as hexagonal etch pits with distinct geometrical features (shape, size and facet orientation) depending on their Burgers vectors. Based on these results, we consider this etch pit method as an easily-operated and inexpensive technique to categorize TDs, and it may help to promote our understanding on the different roles that these types of TDs have played in the performance degradation of SiC power devices.

Abstract: Silicon carbide (SiC) film on silicon (Si) was synthesized by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) with concurrent gas supply and alternative gas supply. The alternative gas supply method was very effective to improve the crystallinity of silicon carbide at the same experimental condition. The crystallinity was sensitive for source gas concentration and background pressure.

Abstract: To solve the problem that no preferential chemical etching is available for dislocation revelation from the carbon-face (C-face) of 4H-SiC, a novel etching technique using vaporized KOH has been developed. It was found that this etching technique can reveal the three commonly found dislocation types, i.e., threading screw dislocations (TSDs), threading edge dislocations (TEDs) and basal plane dislocations (BPDs) as large hexagonal, small hexagonal and triangular, respectively. Centimeter-scale dislocation mapping has been obtained, and the pit positions on the C-face were compared with those on the Si-face, to study the dislocation propagation behaviors across the sample thickness. We have found one-to-one correlation for nearly 96% of the TSDs, indicating a dominant proportion of TSDs penetrate the whole wafer thickness. The vaporized KOH etching technique has provided an effective and inexpensive method of making inch-scale mapping of dislocation distribution for the C-face epitaxial and bulky 4H-SiC.

Abstract: Electron beam induced current (EBIC) observations have been carried out to investigate the influence of mechanical polishing (MP) direction on the dislocations formation at the Si-face c(0001) of 4H-SiC epitaxial layers. Two opposite MP directions (defined by polish pad moving direction) have been compared, which are [11-20] off-cut directions along step-up and step-down, respectively. It has been found that high density of dislocations have been formed along the polish paths for the 8o off samples with polishing pad moved in step-up direction. By contrast, step-down polishing samples have shown no significant dislocation increase although shallow polish scratches were observed. Similar experiments have also been carried out for 4o off samples, showing step-up MPs introduced more dislocations than step-down ones. The results are discussed in terms of forces along the slip plane [11-20](0001) effectively exerted by the abrasive particles on the steps.

Abstract: Shallow defects, which were induced by mechanical treatment, on 4H-SiC wafers were investigated. The density and the distribution in depth of shallow defects on the wafers were depended on wafer venders. Most of serious defects such as dislocation array (DA), triangular stacking fault (TRSF) and triangular defect (TRD) in epitaxial film were demonstrated to be caused by shallow dislocations on the surface of the wafers. Revised mechanical polish can reduce the densities of DA, TRSF and TRD in epitaxial film.