Rev.Adv.Mater.Sci. (RAMS)
No 1/2, Vol. 52, 2017, pages 29-42

GROWTH OF EPITAXIAL SiC LAYER ON Si (100) SURFACE OF n- AND p- TYPE OF CONDUCTIVITY
BY THE ATOMS SUBSTITUTION METHOD

S.A. Kukushkin, A.V. Osipov and I.P. Soshnikov

Abstract

It has been predicted theoretically and confirmed experimentally an effect of influence of the conductivity type of a silicon (Si) substrate on the morphology and polytypic composition of silicon carbide (SiC) films synthesized by the substitution of Si atoms by carbon (C) atoms on the Si(100) substrate surfac Abstract. The effect of the Silicon (Si) substrate conductivity type on the morphology and polytypic composition of silicon carbide (SiC) films grown on these substrates has been theoretically predicted and experimentally proved. SiC films here were produced using the substitution of Si atoms by carbon (C) ones on Si(100) substrate surface deviated from the (100) singular face by an angle ™4°. The structural and morphological features of SiC films formation on Si(100) substrate surfaces possessing both n- and p-type conductivity were investigated. It has been shown theoretically and experimentally that the singular (100) Si face transforms into a SiC face consisting of a number of disordered facets resembling saw-toothed structures, the lateral surfaces of which are along the (111), (110), and (210) planes in the process of silicon by carbon atoms substitution. It was shown that the atoms substitution mechanism is fundamentally different in case of n- and p-type conductivity of the Si substrate; this difference was experimentally confirmed and its nature was theoretically considered. The following results could be highlighted: (i) An ordered SiC phase with a facet(flake)-like morphology consisting of both cubic and hexagonal layers is formed on the vicinal p-type conductivity Si surface deviated by ™4° from the singular (100) face. The planes of the hexagonal facets may have (1102), (2200), (2202) orientations that provides the possibility to use the grown structures as substrates for the hydride vapor phase epitaxy (HVPE) of high-quality epitaxial semipolar hexagonal AlN and GaN. (ii) The use of vicinal n-type conductivity Si surface on the vicinal Si surface of n-type conductivity deviated by ™4° from the singular (100) face results in the ordered cubic 3C-SiC phase formation.

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