Relaxation of the Distorted Lattice of 4H-SiC (0001) Surface by Post-Oxidation Annealing

Abstract

Thermal oxidation of 4H-SiC to grow native-oxide SiO2 is always followed by the generation of crystal defects and lattice distortion. We studied the relaxation of this distorted lattice on thermally-oxidized 4H-SiC surface by performing annealing process with several conditions. The surface distortion could be relaxed partially by annealing under argon, nitrogen monoxide, and H2O gases, confirmed by in-plane X-ray diffractometer. This surface relaxation is possibly induced by the release of oxygen-related defects, as confirmed by thermal desorption analysis. The surface distortion caused by thermal oxidation is due to the existence of oxygen in 4H-SiC lattice, while the relaxation is caused by the migration of the oxygen-related defect structure, and emitted from 4H-SiC surface region as CO molecule.