300 mm 4H-SiC Crystal and Substrate Development

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Abstract:

The development of integrated circuits (IC) is mainly driven by the advanced processes and increased silicon wafer diameter in the past several decades. It is technically believed that the diameter of 300 mm for SiC wafer is too difficult to be achieved since SiC crystal diameter expansion is a long and tough process, the growth process of which is different from that of silicon crystal. Herein, we demonstrate the diameter expansion process of SiC crystal from 200 mm to 300 mm using physical vapor transportation (PVT) method and show the world’s first 300 mm 4H-SiC single crystal substrate with 100% 4H polytype. The driving force of crystal diameter expansion and resultant thermal stress are discussed in this paper. Based on the successful preparation of 300 mm SiC seed crystal, 12-inch high-purity, conductive n-type & p-type SiC substrates are subsequently fabricated. Quality characterization of the 300 mm SiC substrate shows very low micropipe and threading screw dislocation density below 0.05 cm-2 and 120 cm-2, respectively. Furthermore, both 500 μm and 750 μm thickness substrates are fabricated with bow and warp values lower than 10 μm and 30 μm, indicating high quality 300 mm substrates applicable in power devices and other emerging areas.

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