Terrace growth and polytype development in epitaxial β-SiC films on α-SiC (6H and 15R) substrates

Abstract

Epitaxial β-SiC (3C) films were grown on (0001) 6H-SiC and 15R-SiC substrates by chemical vapor deposition (CVD). TEM characterization revealed that films on both substrates exhibited large areas of atomically flat, coherent interfaces. However, when 3C-SiC films were grown on 6H substrates, double position boundaries (DPB's) were frequently observed, and islands of 6H were occasionally embedded in the predominantly 3C film. In contrast, films of 3C-SiC grown on 15R substrates exhibited relatively few DPB's and only occasional islands of 15R. A model of interlay er interactions in SiC was applied to predict the atomic structures at both 3C/6H and 3C/s15R interfaces, and these predictions were consistent with experimental observations of the interfaces by TEM. The observed interface structures and defect distributions were attributed to a microscopic kinetic mechanism of terrace growth. Consideration of step energies and growth kinetics led to the prediction that DPB's can be avoided by growing 3C-SiC films on 15R-SiC substrates.