Effect of Substrate Orientation on Interfacial and Bulk Character of Chemically Vapor Deposited Monocrystalline Silicon Carbide Thin Films

The high breakdown electric field, saturated electron drift velocity, and melting (decomposition) point of SiC have given continual impetus to research concerned with the development of thin films having minimum concentrations of line and planar defects and electronic devices for severe environments. To this end, epitaxial growth via chemical vapor deposition of monocrystalline films of β-SiC on Si (100) and 6 H -SiC {0001} substrates and 6 H -SiC on vicinal 6 H -SiC {0001} substrates have been conducted. High concentrations of stacking faults, microtwins, and inversion domain boundaries were produced in films grown directly on Si (100) as a result of a lattice parameter difference of ∼ 20% and the presence of single (or odd number) atomic steps on the substrate surface. Growth on Si (100) oriented 3° to 4° toward 011] completely eliminated the IDBs (but not the other defects) due to the preferential formation of double steps with dimerization axes on the upper terraces parallel to the step edges. Growth of β-SiC films on 6 H {0001} lowered the density of all defects but resulted in the formation of a new defect, namely, double positioning boundaries. The latter were eliminated by using 6 H {0001} oriented 3° toward 1120]. The defect density in these last films, relative to those grown on on-axis Si (100), was reduced substantially (to ∼10⁵ cm/cm³). However, the resulting film was 6 H -SiC. Significant improvements in electrical properties of simple devices were obtained as the defect density was progressively decreased.