Characterization of epitaxial layers grown on 4H-SiC (0 0 0 −1) substrates

• Published in: Journal of crystal growth Vol. 604; p. 127048
• Main Authors: Chen, Junhong, Guan, Min, Yang, Shangyu, Zhao, Siqi, Yan, Guoguo, Shen, Zhanwei, Zhao, Wanshun, Wang, Lei, Liu, Xingfang, Sun, Guosheng, Zeng, Yiping
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 15.02.2023
• Subjects: A1. 4H-SiC epitaxial; A1. Crystal morphology; A3. Chemical vapor deposition processes; B2. Semiconducting silicon compounds; A1. 4H-SiC epitaxial; B2. Semiconducting silicon compounds; A3. Chemical vapor deposition processes; A1. Crystal morphology
• ISSN: 0022-0248; 1873-5002
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jcrysgro.2022.127048

•The temperature has a great influence on the crystal form of the 4H-SiC C-face epitaxial layer.•The Si source used for the growth of the SiC epitaxial layer is SiHCl3.•Elevated temperature favors homoepitaxial growth of 4H-SiC C-face. SiC is an excellent semiconductor material that can be used in power semiconductor devices. It has the advantages of high thermal conductivity, stable chemical properties, and high critical breakdown field strength. The active region of a SiC device is usually in the SiC epitaxial layer, so the growth of high-quality SiC epitaxial layers is extremely valuable. In this paper, we investigate the epitaxial growth of SiC on n-type 4° off-axis SiC (0 0 0–1) substrates. We used a horizontal hot-wall chemical vapor deposition apparatus for rapid epitaxy on SiC substrates, using C2H4, and SiHCl3 as precursors and H2 as carrier gas, respectively, and growing at 1350 °C,1400 °C,1450 °C,1500 °C, 1550 °C, 1600 °C for half an hour to get epitaxial layer. The effect of growth temperature on the surface morphology of SiC (0 0 0 –1) epitaxial layer was analyzed and epitaxial layers is characterized by optical microscope, scanning electron microscope, atomic force microscope and Raman scattering instrument, and the growth rate of epitaxial layer was obtained. It is found that the higher growth temperature is helpful to obtain the epitaxial layer with smooth surface and higher content of 4H-SiC under certain pressure, C/Si molar ratio, and following rate of precursor and carrier gas.