Materials Science Forum Vols. 821-823

Abstract: The crystallographic structure of comet-shaped defects observed on C-face 4H-SiC epitaxial film was investigated. The comet-shaped defects consist of head and tail part. The tail part shows symmetrical shape with respect to the (1-100) plane in cross section and narrowing along the step-flow direction. The tail part consists of four 3C domains with characteristic twin boundaries of Σ3 and Σ27. The head part consists of 3C poly-crystalline grains formed during epitaxial film growth and its formation is triggered by 3C-SiC particle contamination.

Abstract: Homoepitaxial layers with different growth pit density were grown on 4H-SiC Si-face substrates by changing C/Si ratio, and the influence of the growth pit density on Schottky barrier diodes and metal-oxide-semiconductor capacitors were investigated. Even though there were many growth pits on the epi-layer, growth pit density did not affect the leakage current of Schottky barrier diodes and lifetime of constant current time dependent dielectric breakdown. By analyzing the growth pit shape, the aspect ratio of the growth pit was considered to be the key factor to the leakage current of the Schottky barrier diodes and the lifetime of metal-oxide-semiconductor capacitors.

Abstract: Step-bunching and triangular defects are significant problems in achieving higher growth rate 4H-SiC epilayers in a horizontal hot wall CVD reactor using a standard non-chlorinated chemistry of silane-propane-hydrogen on 4°off-axis substrates. In this work, the impact of growth pressure on generation of step-bunching and triangular defects and the correlations between the surface roughness and the formation of defects were investigated. It has been found that the impact of growth pressure on concentration of the triangle defects and surface roughness is obviously different. An overall reduction of defects was observed with decreasing growth pressure while the surface roughness increased. The increased adatom surface mobility in low pressure range and minimization of surface free energy are the main reasons for the phenomenon above. High Resolution X-Ray Diffraction (HRXRD) indicated that the structural quality of 4H-SiC epilayers performed at low pressure was higher than that obtained at high pressure.

Abstract: We realized the growth of 3C-SiC crystal on sapphire by solution growth method. The carbon deposition on a sapphire substrate before growth is the key point for this technology. This carbon layer plays a role to protect the dissolution of sapphire by Si solvent. Single crystal of 3C-SiC was grown on the whole surface of the sapphire substrate. Surprisingly, the 3C-SiC layer did not directly grown on the sapphire substrate. The single crystal 3C-SiC layer formed by the reaction between the deposited carbon and the Si wafer that is a solvent material below the melting point of silicon during heating process before the growth. The 3C-SiC grew on the 3C-SiC layer. In this process, the deposited carbon play another important role.

Abstract: The electrical and optical properties of n-doped polycrystalline 3C-SiC films grown on 6 inches Si wafers have been investigated as a function of precursor gases, deposition temperature and C/Si ratio. The Si/SiC interface has been optimized, eliminating the voids formation through a double temperature step process and by introducing a thin not intentionally doped layer. Films with high surface roughness, favourable for light trapping in photovoltaic applications, and with resistivity around 20 mOhm cm have been obtained for C/Si ratio close to 1. Simple solar cells have been also manufactured and proved the functionality of poly 3C-SiC/Si heterojunction solar cell. Increased quantum efficiency in the range 300-500 nm has been observed, compared to amorphous Si, making poly 3C-SiC heterojunction solar cells interesting for high temperature applications or water splitting.

Abstract: The heteroepitaxial growth of 3C-SiC on Si (001) and Si (111) substrates deeply patterned at a micron scale by low-pressure chemical vapor deposition is shown to lead to space-filling isolated structures resulting from a mechanism of self-limitation of lateral expansion. Stacking fault densities and wafer bowing may be drastically reduced for optimized pattern geometries.

Abstract: The 3C-SiC (111) layer has been grown on Si (110) substrate by using hexachloro-disilane (HCDS) and propane. The propane flow rate was controlled in the carbonization step and the growth step for obtaining SiC layer with high crystal quality. The high quality epitaxial 3C-SiC (111) layer was successfully grown at growth temperature of 1280°C and lower propane flow rate condition. Grown 3C-SiC epitaxial layers were systematically analyzed by an optical microscope, Raman spectroscopy, FE-SEM and XRD

Abstract: In this paper we use three dimensional kinetic Monte Carlo simulations on super-lattices to study the hetero-polytypical growth of cubic silicon carbide polytype (3C-SiC) on hexagonal 6H-SiC step-bunched substrates with miscuts towards the <11-20> and <1-100> directions. We find that the preferential 3C conversion observed on <1-100> misoriented substrates could be due to a different step-to-island interaction which enhances island stability and expansion in this specific direction. For this reason 3-4° degrees off step-bunched 6H substrates with miscut towards the <1-100> direction should be the best choice for the stable and reproducible hetero-polytypical growth of high quality cubic epitaxial films.

Abstract: To achieve high quality SiC growth on Si substrate, it is essential to get a smooth Si surface without forming SiC and graphitic islands during the surface cleaning and before the carbonisation process. In this paper, a novel in-situ surface cleaning method designed for the hetero-epitaxial growth of SiC on Si substrate is developed using a custom-made low-pressure chemical vapour deposition reactor. The results indicate that the combination of ramping in oxygen and subsequent flowing of SiH₄ avoids the contamination of Si, enables the oxide layer to be removed smoothly, and subsequently creates a smooth Si surface with regular atomic steps. SiC grown on off-axis Si has better crystallinity and significantly smaller roughness than that grown on on-axis Si.

Abstract: Starting from the previously demonstrated twin-free 3C-SiC growth on 4H-SiC when using Ge pre-deposition treatment, this work focuses on the understanding of the growth mechanism that stands behind this result. Toward this end, short growth experiments were performed to allow the investigation of the nucleation stage. Based on the experimental observations, a mechanism is proposed which involves a Ge-induced transient homoepitaxial growth step followed by 3C nucleation when large terraces are formed by step faceting. Lateral expansion of the 3C islands leads to orientation selection and twin boundary elimination. Similar results can be obtained when applying a Si-based pre-deposition treatment so that the crucial transient homoepitaxial step is promoted in fact by the presence of a liquid phase itself, no by its chemical nature.