An accurate modelling and simulation of the sublimation growth process needs a software taking into account a multitude of highly coupled phenomena: fluid mechanics, convective, conductive and radiative heat transfer, electromagnetic, multicomponent species transport, homogeneous and heterogeneous reactivity and finally thermal and transport databases. The objective of this paper is to combine modelling trends with experimental results to propose explanations and solutions to growth problems. Finally, a simple and generic mechanical approach will show the relations between the density of dislocations and the temperature field.

The structure of thermal oxide film thinner than 2nm on a SiC surface was investigated using in-situ infrared reflection absorption spectroscopy (IRAS). In the case of oxide films on 6H-SiC(0001), the peak frequencies of the TO mode (≈1050 cm−1) of the Si-O-Si stretch vibration shifts toward lower wave number with decreasing oxide thickness in the range of 0.2nm to 2nm and shift toward a higher frequency as the growth temperature rises. The LO mode (≈1250 cm−1) of the Si-O-Si stretch vibration remains almost constant with the increase in oxide thickness from 0.2 nm to 2 nm. These results indicate that there is a considerable difference in the structure near the interface between a thermally grown oxide layer formed on SiC and one formed on Si.

In this work we mainly report on the analyses of polycrystalline silicon carbide films grown by Electron Cyclotron Resonance Chemical Vapor Deposition (ECR-CVD) on Si (100) and Si (111) substrates. Structural properties of the films have been analyzed by X-ray diffractometry, transmission electron microscopy and micro-Raman spectroscopy. Samples deposited with optimized deposition conditions, show a polycrystalline columnar structure with lateral crystal dimensions ranging from 300 up to 1400 Å and an orientation close to that of the Si substrates.

The effects of post-implant anneal conditions on the level of residual damage resulting from nitrogen and boron implants after different anneal processes are investigated using the Positron Annihilation Spectroscopy (PAS) technique. It is shown that after implantation there is a substantial defect concentration significantly below the range of the implants. However such damage is almost completely recovered after anneal in contrast with the damage close to the implant range point. Such residual damage has a strong effect on the electrical characteristics of double implanted bipolar transistors - principally though reduction in carrier mobility and lifetime. It is shown that the precise implant and anneal conditions play a strong role in the level of such damage and the subsequent electrical performance of bipolar devices.

Metal semiconductor field effect transistor, MESFET, structures have been grown in a hot-wall CVD reactor. Using trimethylaluminium and nitrogen as dopant sources, p- and n-type epitaxial layers were grown on semi insulating substrates. A comprehensive characterization study of thickness and doping of these structures has been performed by using scanning electron microscopy, secondary ion mass spectrometry, capacitance-voltage measurements. Each technique is discussed concerning its advantage and disadvantage. Some transistor properties of MESFETs processed on the grown material are presented.

The influence of composition on Al-Ti ohmic contacts to 4H p-SiC was studied. When NA was 7 x 1018 cm−3, contacts with 70 wt.% or more Al became ohmic when annealed at 1000°C for 2 min, whereas when there was 60 wt.% or less Al, the contacts did not become ohmic even when annealed under more severe conditions (longer times and/or higher temperatures). Spiking of the contact metallization always accompanied ohmic behavior and could be correlated with Al-Ti compositions that contain both an Al-rich liquid and solid TiAl3 at 1000°C prior to reaction with SiC or evaporative loss of Al. For the 70 wt.× contacts, a specific contact resistance of 1.5 × 10−4 Ω cm2 was measured along with spiking of the metallization into the SiC with a room-mean-square interfacial roughness of 150 Å and a maximum spiking depth of 1200 Å. Although still a concern, this spiking was less severe than observed for the 90 wt.× composition. A conductive CrB2 cap layer was next demonstrated to retard evaporation of Al during annealing of the Al-Ti contacts with 70 wt.× Al. The cap allowed use of thinner contact layers, reducing the depth of spiking and improving the surface morphology and edge definition of the ohmic contacts, with a one order of magnitude penalty in the specific contact resistance.

We demonstrate that the performance of silicon carbide MESFETs is largely determined by short-channel effects. Parasitic bipolar transistor turn-on limits the operation voltage to a small fraction of the theoretically expected value for an ideal device. Tradeoffs are shown to exist between optimum gate length and on-state current on one hand, and the maximum blocking voltage on the other hand. Composite p-buffers with an elevated doping in the vicinity of the active layer considerably increase the operation voltage. Silicon carbide MESFETs utilizing composite buffers are reported.

This paper discusses the design and process issues of high voltage power DiMOSFETs (Double implanted MOSFETs) in 4H-silicon carbide (SiC). Since Critical Field (EC) in 4H-SiC is very high (10X higher than that of a Si), special care is needed to protect the gate oxide. 2D device simulation tool was used to determine the optimal JFET gap, which provides adequate gate oxide protection as well as a reasonable JFET resistance. The other issue in 4H-SiC DiMOSFETs is extremely low effective channel mobility (μeff) in the implanted p-well regions. NO anneal of the gate oxide and buried channel structure are used for increasing μeff. NO anneal, which was reported to be very effective in increasing the μeff of SiC MOSFETS in p-type epilayers, did not produce reasonable μeff of SiC MOSFETs in the implanted p-well. Buried channel (BC) structure with 2.7×1012 cm−2 charge in the channel showed high μeff utilizing bulk buried channel, but resulted in a normally-on device. However, it was shown that by controlling the charge in the BC layer, a normally off device with high μeff can be produced. A 3.3 mm × 3.3 mm DiMOSFET with BC structure showed a drain current of 10 A, which is the highest current reported in SiC power MOSFETs to date, at a forward drop of 4.4 V with a gate bias of only 2.5 V.

Pulsed laser direct deposit Ni2Si Ohmic contacts were successfully fabricated on n-SiC. The electrical, structural, compositional, and surface morphological properties were investigated as a function of heat treatments ranging from 700 °C to 950 °C. The as-deposited and 700 °C annealed samples were non-Ohmic. Annealing at 950 C° yielded excellent Ohmic behavior, an abrupt void free interface, and a smooth surface morphology. No residual carbon was present within the contact film or at the film-SiC interface and the contact showed no appreciable contact expansion as a result of the 950 °C annealing process. Results of this investigation demonstrate that 950 °C annealed pulse laser deposited Ni2Si-SiC contacts possess excellent electrical, interfacial, microstructural, and surface properties, which are required for reliable device operation.

Silicon carbide is a unique material for the study of process of defect generation and crystallization. In this paper, for the first time, we report the observation of the entrapment of whiskers and dendrites (tree-like defects) within the volume of the growing monocrystalline SiC. The encapsulation of the tree-like defects in the volume of the grown crystal leads to solid state polytype transformation. According to Oswald rule, the most probable transformation sequence is as follows: 2H→3C→xR→4H, 6H until a stable phase is established for the given conditions of crystal growth. We observe that the entrapments of tree-like defects are the source of SiC defects such as micropipes and planar defects. It is very likely that the above process is also the source of dislocations. Practically, every branch of the tree-like structure generates the above mentioned defects (micropipes, planar defects, etc.). Our investigation (by EDAX) shows that the chemical composition of the tree-like defect is the same as that of bulk SiC. In this paper, we will present the mechanism of the entrapment of the tree-like defects in the bulk crystal.

Sublimation growth of 6H-SiC was performed on {1100} and {1120} substrates. The difference between the growth on {1100} plane and {1120} plane was observed. {1100} facet was almost flat and there were grooves oriented toward <1120> direction. The step bunching was observed on {1100} plane 5° off-axis. A lot of pits were introduced on {1120} plane of the crystal grown both on {1100} and {1120} substrates. Step flow growth toward <1120> direction created the pits on {1120} plane. It was important to grow crystal by layer by layer growth on {1120} plane. By changing the growth mode from step flow growth to layer by layer growth, pit on the {1120} plane may be reduced as same as CVD growth on {1120} plane. Growth temperature and C/Si ratio should be optimized to keep layer by layer growth.

The growth kinetics of thermally stable Ti(100nm)/TaSi2 (200nm)/Pt (300nm) metallization on 6H-SiC was studied after heat treatment in air up to 700°C. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) of the contact surface morphology reveals a two-dimensional network of features that is attributed to non-uniform oxide growth associated with the multigrain structure of the platinum overlayer. Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) identified three important reaction zones after initial 30-minute anneal at 600°C in nitrogen. One is the formation of a platinum silicide overlayer resulting from TaSi2 decomposition. The second is titanium silicide formation adjacent to the decomposed TaSi2. The third is pseudo-epitaxial Ti5Si3 at the SiC interface. Specific contact resistance values ranging from 10−4–10−6 Ω-cm2, remained stable after 200 hours at 600°C in air. Activation energies of 1.03eV for platinum silicide oxidation and 1.96eV for Ti5Si3 are obtained from Arrhenius plots.

Silicon carbide layers were grown by solid source molecular beam epitaxy on silicon (111). Prior to the silicon carbide growth different amounts of germanium were predeposited on the silicon surface. Structural and morphological investigations with reflection high energy electron diffraction, x-ray diffraction, atomic force microscopy and spectroscopic ellipsometry revealed an improvement of the surface and interface properties for Ge coverages around and below 1 ML. The improved structural properties of the heterojunction lead to an amendment of the forward and reverse properties of the SiC/Si heterojunction.

As the demands on electronic systems intended for high temperature, high power or high frequency operation increase, silicon-based electronics are being pushed to its fundamental material limits. Consequently, continued improvement in system level performance for these applications requires new semiconductor materials. Silicon carbide (SiC) is a candidate material for the applications listed above, but considerable materials, processing, and device research are still needed before SiC devices are brought to market.

This paper concentrates on ion implantation processing of SiC, and attempts to illustrate specific problems associated with ion implantation. Data from a series of experiments relevant to SiC MOSFETs are presented for this purpose. Ion implants into SiC are discussed first to show how a strategy for improving the acceptor activation ratio from less than 1% to nearly 100% is developed. The annealing temperatures (>1600°C) needed to attain high activation ratios lead to severely roughened surfaces. Results from experiments designed to preserve high-quality surfaces have been encouraging from a purely materials perspective. However, these solutions do not translate into improved transport characteristics for SiC MOSFETs. An investigation of inversion layer mobility in 4H-SiC MOSFETs is presented to illustrate this point.

Optical absorption spectra of undoped, n-type, and semi-insulating 6H and 4H bulk silicon carbide (SiC) were obtained in the spectral region of 200 – 3200 nm (6.20 – 0.3875 eV). Several features were observed in the absorption spectra collected for various samples. A sharp peak below the band gap was observed in 4H SiC. The intensity of this peak was observed to increase in samples that exhibit larger absorption due to free carriers, which leads us to conclude that the defect responsible for this peak is also the source of the free carriers in the materials. Additionally, a series of optical absorption peaks separated by approximately 21 meV were observed around 0.9185 eV (1350 nm). These peaks are zero phonon lines of intraband transitions in the VSi 3d shell. The optical absorption near the band edge was observed to be sample dependent. The variation of the band gap as a function of temperature is also observed to be sample dependent.

We have investigated by x-ray diffraction defect structures in 6H-SiC after neutron irradiation with different fluences and followed by different annealing procedures. An interpretation along a model of Klimanek [1, 4–6] shows, that higher fluences lead to a stronger than linear reduction of the correlation length, whereas higher annealing temperatures correlate with a better recovery of the correlation length. In addition defects of 1st kind created by irradiation are reduced by annealing. We find that annealing changes the character of the defects and it accentuates a defect structure already present in the original samples.

Ohmic contacts to p-type SiC were fabricated by depositing Al/Ni and Al/Ti followed by high temperature annealing. A p-type layer was fabricated by Al or B diffusion from vapor phase into both p-type and n-type substrates. The thickness of the diffused layer was about 0.1–0.2 μm with surface carrier concentration of about 1.0×1019cm−3. Metal contacts to a p-type substrate with a background doping concentration of 1.2×1018cm−3, without a diffusion layer, were also formed. The values of specific contact resistance obtained by Circular Transmission Line Method (CTLM) and Transfer Length Method (TLM) for the n-type substrate, and by Cox & Strack method for p-type substrate, respectively, varied from 1.3×10−4Ωcm2 to 8.8×10−3 Ωcm2. The results indicate that the specific contact resistance could be significantly reduced by creating a highly doped diffused surface layer.

SiC bulk single crystal growth by sublimation was investigated. A new crucible design, double-walled crucible, was proposed, and its effect was confirmed numerically and experimentally. On the point of heat transfer in a growth cavity, double-walled crucible is better than conventional crucible. With a double-walled crucible, temperature of seed and source surfaces could be kept constant with better uniformity than that with a conventional crucible. It was deduced that a crystal growth rate could be kept constant with flat surface. Furthermore, in case of a double walled crucible, crystal enlarged rapidly with less inclusion. As the results, a double-walled crucible is useful to grow high quality SiC single crystal by sublimation.

Nitrogen delta-doped silicon carbide (SiC) layers were grown by a new pulse doping method in a chemical vapor deposition. Doping distribution with high peak concentration (1.×1018 cm−3) and narrow distribution width (12 nm) was fabricated in the nitrogen delta-doped structure of SiC. Mobility enhancement due to spatial separation of electrons and their ionized parent donors was observed for the delta-doped structure. Metal-semiconductor field-effect transistors with a nitrogen delta-doped channel and a recess gate structure were fabricated. The devices had large source-drain breakdown voltages, high drain current capability and easy control of the threshold voltage with a good pinch-off characteristics.

Feasibility of lo-hi-lo and delta-doped structures for evaluation of high-field silicon carbide material properties is investigated. Delta-doped structures are grown using the hot-wall CVD technique. Aluminum and nitrogen doping profiles are demonstrated with FWHM below 10 nm. Nitrogen doping transients are found to be slower than those for aluminum. The growth interrupt technique has been developed for achieving narrow nitrogen doping peaks. Lo-hi-lo structures were fabricated using the implantation-and-regrowth technique. Structures with confined avalanche multiplication are demonstrated using the lo-hi-lo and delta doping techniques. The effect of substrate imperfections on early avalanche breakdown is investigated using confined avalanche multiplication devices.