Thick 3C-SiC single crystals, grown by continuous-feed physical vapor transport, were studied by high-resolution X-ray reciprocal space mapping. These crystals contained Shockley-type stacking faults lying in the {111} planes, which gave rise to diffuse intensity streaks along the <111> directions. An approach was presented that permitted the determination, in combination with the simulation of transverse scans, the stacking fault density from the simulation of the diffuse intensity streaks. Stacking-fault densities as low as 4 x 102/cm could be detected in high-quality continuous-feed physical vapor transport grown crystals.

Determination of Stacking Fault Densities in 3C-SiC Crystals by Diffuse X-ray Scattering. A.Boulle, D.Chaussende, F.Pecqueux, F.Conchon, L.Latu-Romain, O.Masson: Physica Status Solidi A, 2007, 204[8], 2528-34