Open AccessA comparative study of high-quality C-face and Si-face 3C-SiC(1 1 1) grown on off-oriented 4H-SiC substrates
Author(s) -
Yuchen Shi,
Valdas Jokubavičius,
Pontus Höjer,
Ivan G. Ivanov,
Gholam Reza Yazdi,
Rositsa Yakimova,
Mikael Syväjärvi,
Jianwu Sun
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
journal of physics. d, applied physics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.857
H-Index - 198
eISSN - 1361-6463
pISSN - 0022-3727
DOI - 10.1088/1361-6463/ab2859
Subject(s) - materials science , hexagonal crystal system , sublimation (psychology) , epitaxy , photoluminescence , face (sociological concept) , crystallography , layer (electronics) , optoelectronics , nanotechnology , chemistry , psychology , social science , sociology , psychotherapist
We present a comparative study of the C-face and Si-face of 3C-SiC(111) grown on off-oriented 4H-SiC substrates by the sublimation epitaxy. By the lateral enlargement method, we demonstrate that the high-quality bulk-like C-face 3C-SiC with thickness of ~1 mm can be grown over a large single domain without double positioning boundaries (DPBs), which are known to have a strongly negative impact on the electronic properties of the material. Moreover, the C-face sample exhibits a smoother surface with one unit cell height steps while the surface of the Si-face sample exhibits steps twice as high as on the C-face due to step-bunching. High-resolution XRD and low temperature photoluminescence measurements show that C-face 3C-SiC can reach the same high crystalline quality as the Si-face 3C-SiC. Furthermore, cross-section studies of the C- and Si-face 3C-SiC demonstrate that in both cases an initial homoepitaxial 4H-SiC layer followed by a polytype transition layer are formed prior to the formation and lateral expansion of 3C-SiC layer. However, the transition layer in the C-face sample is extending along the step-flow direction less than that on the Si-face sample, giving rise to a more fairly consistent crystalline quality 3C-SiC epilayer over the whole sample compared to the Si-face 3C-SiC where more defects appeared on the surface at the edge. This facilitates the lateral enlargement of 3C-SiC growth on hexagonal SiC substrates.