Epitaxial Growth of 4H-SiC (0001) by Sublimation Method Using Horizontal Furnace

Abstract

A sublimation epitaxial method, referred to as the Closed Space Technique (CST) was adopted to produce thick SiC epitaxial layers for power device applications. We aimed to systematically investigate the dependence of SiC epilayer quality and growth rate during the sublimation growth using the CST method on various process parameters such as the growth temperature and working pressure. The etched surface of a SiC epitaxial layer grown with low growth rate (30 μm/h) exhibited a low etch pit density (EPD) of ~2000 /cm2 and a low micropipe density (MPD) of 2 /cm2. The etched surface of a SiC epitaxial layer grown with a high growth rate (above 100 μm/h) contained a high EPD of ~3500 /cm2 and a high MPD of ~500 /cm2, which indicates that high growth rate aids the formation of dislocations and micropipes in the epitaxial layer.