Investigations of 3C-SiC inclusions in 4H-SiC epilayers on 4H-SiC single crystal substrates

Journal Article · Sat Mar 01 04:00:00 EST 1997 · Journal of Electronic Materials

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-997-0142-4· OSTI ID:484474

Si, W; Dudley, M ^[1]; Kong, H S; Sumakeris, J; Carter, C Jr ^[2]

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1. State Univ. of New York, Stony Brook, NY (United States)
2. Cree Research Inc., Durham, NC (United States)

Synchrotron white beam x-ray topography (SWBXT) and Nomarski optical microscopy (NOM) have been used to characterize 4H-SiC epilayers and to study the character of triangular inclusions therein. 4H-SiC substrates misoriented by a range of angles from (0001), as well as (1 1{bar 0}0) and (11 2{bar 0}) oriented substrates were used. No evidence was found for the nucleation of 3C-SiC inclusions at superscrew dislocations (along the [0001] axis) in the 4H-SiC substrates. Increasing the off-axis angle of the substrates from 3.5 to 6.5{degree} was found to greatly suppress the formation of the triangular inclusions. In the case of substrates misoriented by 8.0{degree} from (0001) toward [112{bar 0}], the triangular inclusions were virtually eliminated. The crystalline quality of 4H-SiC epilayers grown on the substrates misoriented by 8.0{degree} from (0001) was very good. For the (11{bar 0}0) and (112{bar 0}) samples, there is no indication of 3C-SiC inclusions in the epilayers. Possible formation mechanisms and the morphology of 3C-SiC inclusions are discussed. 17 refs., 13 figs.

• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• OSTI ID: 484474
• Journal Information: Journal of Electronic Materials, Journal Name: Journal of Electronic Materials Journal Issue: 3 Vol. 26; ISSN JECMA5; ISSN 0361-5235
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
42 ENGINEERING
44 INSTRUMENTATION
INCLUDING NUCLEAR AND PARTICLE DETECTORS
CARBON
EPITAXY
HYDROGEN
INCLUSIONS
LAYERS
MICROSCOPY
MONOCRYSTALS
MORPHOLOGY
SCREW DISLOCATIONS
SILICON CARBIDES
SUBSTRATES
X-RAY DIFFRACTION