Propagation of Stacking Faults in 3C-SiC

Abstract

To quantitatively evaluate the efficacy of stacking fault (SF) reduction methods, Monte Carlo simulations are carried out to reveal the SF distribution on a 3C–SiC (001) surface. SF density decreases with increasing epitaxial layer thickness and reducing size of the substrates. Additionally, SF density depends on interactions between adjoining SFs: annihilation of counter SF-pairs or termination of orthogonal SF-pairs. However, the SF is not entirely eliminated when growth occurs on undulant-Si or switchback epitaxy due to “spontaneous SF collimation”. The simulation shows that effective SF reduction methods, those that enhance the SF termination or annihilation, can theoretically attain the SF density on 3C–SiC (001) below 100 cm-1.