Papers by Author: Nikoletta Jegenyes

Abstract: In this work we report on the growth and preparation of 3C-SiC(111) material for metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) application. In order to achieve reasonable material quality to prepare MOS capacitors several and crucial steps are needed: 1) heteroepitaxial growth of high quality 3C-SiC(111) layer by vapour-liquid-solid mechanism on 6H-SiC(0001) substrate, 2) surface polishing, 3) homoepitaxial re-growth by chemical vapour deposition and 4) use of an advanced oxidation process combining plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition (PECVD) SiO2 and short post-oxidation steps in wet oxygen. Combining all these processes the interface traps density (Dit)can be drastically decreased down to 1.2  1010 eV-1cm-2 at 0.63 eV below the conduction band. To our knowledge, these values are the best ever reported for SiC material in general and 3C-SiC in particular.

Abstract: The current communication focuses on the influence of a post-growth annealing on the evolution of defects inside (111) 3C-SiC layers grown by the Vapour Liquid Solid (VLS) mechanism in SiGe melts on Si-face on- and off axis 6H-SiC substrates. The layers are studied by Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and Low Temperature Photoluminescence (LTPL). It was found that the growth on off-axis substrates results in a 3C-SiC layer containing mainly stacking faults (SFs) and microtwins (MT). The density of MT lamellae and SFs reduces in the layers grown on the on-axis substrate compared to off-axis substrate. In the layers grown on off-axis substrates the annealing strongly reduces the density of SFs inclined to the 3C/6H-SiC interface. Additionally, 3C to 6H polytypic transformation appears only at the interface, most probably starting from substrate step edges. This was only seen on off-axis seed since the step edges are more.

Abstract: Free carrier absorption (FCA) and picosecond light-induced transient grating (LITG) techniques were applied to study the photoelectrical properties of 3C-SiC(111) homoepitaxial layers grown by CVD method on VLS (vapour-liquid-solid) grown seeds. The thickness of the CVD layers was ~10.5 µm with non-intentional type doping of n (~ 1017 cm-3) or p (<1015 cm-3). The carrier lifetime and the diffusion coefficient were measured as the function of the sample temperature, the injected excess carrier density at different growth parameters. At room temperature the ambipolar diffusion coefficient was Da=2.5-3 cm2/s, while the lifetime was in the range of 12-18 ns. The best structural and electrical properties were obtained for a CVD layer grown at high, 1600 °C temperature.

Abstract: In this work we report on 3C-SiC heteroepitaxial growth on 4H-SiC(0001) substrates which were patterned to form mesa structures. Two different deposition techniques were used and compared: vapour-liquid-solid (VLS) mechanism and chemical vapour deposition (CVD). The results in terms of surface morphology evolution and the polytype formation using these growth techniques were studied and compared. It was observed both 4H lateral growth from the mesa sidewalls and 3C enlargement on top of the mesas, the former being faster with CVD and VLS. Only VLS technique allowed elimination of twin boundaries for proper orientation of the mesa sidewalls.

Abstract: This paper deals with the formation and propagation of twin boundaries (TBs) inside 3C-SiC layers grown heteroepitaxially on -SiC substrate. The equivalent probability of nucleating 60° rotated 3C islands on such substrate lead to the systematic formation of TB upon coalescence of these islands. Elimination of these defects should occur by bending of the propagation direction. Bending through incoherent TBs is usually encountered during both VLS and CVD growth and it generates crystalline defects due to high built-in energy. One would prefer coherent TBs, formed by two-by-two annihilation of neighbouring TBs, which do not form new defect except microtwin inclusion at the interface. Such TB annihilation seems to be a specificity of growth by VLS mechanism. The mechanism of such bending is discussed

Abstract: Ga-doped 3C-SiC layers have been grown on on-axis 6H-SiC (0001) substrates by the VLS technique and investigated by low temperature photoluminescence (LTPL) measurements. On these Ga-doped samples, all experimental spectra collected at 5K were found dominated by strong N-Ga donor-acceptor pair (DAP) transitions and phonon replicas. As expected, the N-Ga DAP zero-phonon line (ZPL) was located at lower energy (~ 86 meV) below the N-Al one. Fitting the transition energies for the N-Al close DAP lines gave 251 meV for the Al acceptor binding energy in 3C-SiC and, by comparison, 337 meV for the Ga acceptor one.

Abstract: 3C-SiC layers have been grown by using sublimation epitaxy at a temperature of 2000°C, on different types of on-axis 6H-SiC(0001) substrates. The influence of the type of substrate on the morphology of the layers investigated by Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) is discussed. Stacking faults are studied by reciprocal space map (RSM) which shows that double positions domains exists.

Abstract: We report the results of a systematic investigation performed to reduce the residual n-type doping level of the 3C-SiC layers grown by the VLS mechanism on 6H-SiC(0001) on-axis substrate. This new approach, termed “High purity VLS” leads to low doped and low compensated material, which was confirmed by Raman and Low Temperature Photoluminescence spectroscopy. The resultant 3C morphology remains typical of single-domain layers and the n-type doping level could be estimated around 6x1016 cm-3.

Abstract: The influence of nitrogen impurity on the stabilization of 3C-SiC polytype has been studied during vapour-liquid-solid (VLS) growth on 6H-SiC(0001) seed with Si-Ge melt. By changing the partial pressure of N2 during growth, it was found that the proportion of 3C-SiC inside the grown material increases with N2 partial pressure. 6H inclusions are only found for high purity (low N2 content) conditions. The possible interactions proposed to explain this effect are divided in two effects: i) lattice parameter modification and ii) surface induced lateral enlargement variation. A combination of both effects is suspected.

Abstract: Starting from 3C-SiC(111) layers grown by Vapour-Liquid-Solid mechanism, homoepitaxial growth by Chemical Vapour Deposition was carried out on top of these seeds. The effect of the growth temperature and of the C/Si ratio in the gas phase was investigated on the surface morphology, the roughness and the defect density. It was found that the initial highly step-bunched surface of the VLS seeds could be greatly smoothen using appropriate conditions. These conditions were also found to reduce significantly the defect size and/or density at the surface.