Study of the Lateral Growth by VLS Mechanism Using Al-Based Melts on Patterned SiС Substrate

Abstract

In this work we report on SiC epitaxial growth by vapour-liquid-solid (VLS) mechanism on on-axis 4H-SiC(0001) substrates which were previously patterned to form mesa structures. The liquid phase was set to Al70Si30. At 1100°C, it led to very high homoepitaxial lateral growth (140 µm/h) with pronounced spiral growth and in plane anisotropy of growth rate. Upon temperature increase to 1200 °C, this spiral growth was suppressed and the lateral growth was further increased up to 180 µm/h. The in-plane versus out-of-plane anisotropy of growth rate was found to be as high as 60 at this temperature and 46 at 1100°C.