Materials Science Forum, Vol.338-3, 181-184, 2000
Supersonic seeded beam assisted growth of epitaxial silicon carbide
Devices fabricated from silicon carbide (SiC) have the potential to fulfill many of the required properties of next generation high performance electronics. Presently, commercial SIC substrates are available in the 6H and 4H polytypes but will contain defects such as micropipes and high etch pit densities. Homoepitaxial growth on these substrates can result in improved material quality. Unfortunately, present growth processes may result in epilayers containing mixed phase polytypes and high background dopant levels. An innovative silicon carbide growth process based on pulsed seeded supersonic molecular beam deposition enables homoepitaxial SiC films to be deposited at lower growth temperatures which improves quality and potentially reduces the cost of production devices. Development and performance of a multiple beam reactor capable of depositing doped, epitaxial SiC films up to 2 " diameter is described. Deposition rates, film quality and doping levels are discussed.