Passive-Oxidation Kinetics of High-Purity Silicon Carbide from 800° to 1100°C

Highly textured chemically vapor-deposited silicon carbide (CVD-SiC) thick films were oxidized and compared to single-crystal SiC and single-crystal silicon. The oxidation rates of the (111) face of the cubic CVD-SiC were the same as those of the (0001) face of the single-crystal SiC. Similarly, the opposite faces of the two materials, (     ) and (000     ), also oxidized at nominally the same rates. The (     ) and (000     ) faces oxidized much faster than their opposite (lll)/(0001) faces. Ellipsometry measurements and kinetic results implied that differences existed between the oxides that grew on the opposite faces. A regression method was developed to analyze the oxide thickness versus time versus temperature behavior of the specimens simultaneously. This technique was compared to typical methods for analyzing temperature-dependent processes and estimated temperature- dependent parameters (e.g., activation energy) and their errors more accurately.