The growth of SiC on off-oriented 6H-SiC{00•1} substrates was quantitatively analyzed on the basis of the Burton-Cabrera-Frank theory. By determining the critical growth conditions at which the growth mode changed from step-flow to 2-dimensional nucleation, the surface diffusion lengths of adatoms on the (00•1)Si and (00•¯1)C faces could be calculated. It was found that, although the nucleation rate was much higher on (00•¯1)C faces, the surface diffusion length was longer on (00•¯1)C faces. This produced little difference in the step-flow growth conditions for either face. The growth conditions under which step-flow growth occurred were predicted as a function of parameters such as the temperature, growth rate and off-angle of the substrate. A study of the interrelationship of the latter 2 parameters revealed that the desorption of adatoms was negligible and that the condensation coefficient onto the surface was almost unity on substrates with off-angles of more than 3°.

T.Kimoto, H.Matsunami: Journal of Applied Physics, 1994, 75[2], 850-9