A vertical radiant-heating reactor was developed, for thick SiC epitaxial growth, in which the susceptor and substrate were heated by radiation from the hot wall. The benefits of the heating and sample-holding method were demonstrated by improvements in the curvature of crystal bending and full-width at half-maximum of the X-ray ω-rocking curves followed by epitaxial growth. The typical growth rate was 13 to 16μm/h at 1530 to 1550C at the susceptor top under reduced pressures as low as 50 to 70mbar. Background doping at low as 1013/cm3 was achieved, and some of the 4H–SiC epilayers exhibited a high resistivity. A 4H–SiC epilayer, over 240μm-thick, was grown which had minimal surface roughness. Few signs of impurities were observed by low-temperature photoluminescence, and no impurities (Al, B, Ti, V, Cr) which exceeded 1014/cm3 were found by secondary ion mass spectroscopy for a 150μm-thick 4H–SiC epilayer. Thickness and doping uniformity along the gas flow, of about 5 and 11% respectively,

 
were obtained for 5cm substrates. Molten KOH etching analysis revealed that some of the micro-pipes were dissociated into closed core screw dislocations during epitaxial growth.

Epitaxial Growth of Thick 4H–SiC Layers in a Vertical Radiant-Heating Reactor. H.Tsuchida, I.Kamata, T.Jikimoto, K.Izumi: Journal of Crystal Growth, 2002, 237-239[2], 1206-12