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Effect of TMG Addition on the Epitaxial Growth of 3C-SiC on Si(100) and Si(111) Using Hexamethyldisilane

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 March 2011

Ki Hoon Lee
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106, U.S.A
Kasif Teker
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106, U.S.A
Ming Zhang
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106, U.S.A
Juyong Chung
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106, U.S.A
Pirouz Pirouz
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106, U.S.A
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Abstract

Epitaxial and crack-free 3C-SiC film was successfully grown on Si(100)/(111) by a one step process without separate nucleation or carbonization steps at a low temperature of 1200°C by MOVPE. The growth was achieved by using hexamethyldisilane (HMDS) with the addition of a small amount of trimethylgallium (TMG) (0.5 sccm) with dilute hydrogen (12% H2 + Ar) as a carrier gas. Without the addition of TMG during growth, epitaxial growth of SiC on Si was only possible at temperatures above 1300°C following a nucleation step at 1200∼1250°C. After growth, all the films were analyzed by using cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Nomarski differential interference microscopy (NDIM). It was observed by XPS that the SiC film contained only a small amount of Ga, which means the Ga component of TMG does not much accumulate in SiC, in spite of a relatively high ratio of TMG/HMDS. To investigate the effect of TMG flow rate, various amounts of TMG (0.5 - 5sccm) were added during SiC deposition. Below 0.5 sccm of TMG flow rate, the SiC film showed epitaxial growth, observed by TEM and XRD. However, with an increasing flow rate of TMG above 1 sccm, the XRD peak of 3C-SiC becomes smaller and slightly shifted. At 5 sccm, the film was polycrystalline possibly implying that the SiC lattice is being strained gradually with TMG addition. It is also observed by AFM that, at the initial stages of growth, nucleation is much facilitated with the addition of TMG. The deposition rate with the addition of TMG at 1200°C is about 650 nm/hr, which is much faster than the rate without TMG addition (480 nm/hr). Thus, it is believed that TMG addition has a positive effect on the nucleation and HMDS decomposition during deposition. Also, with the addition of a small amount of Ar+10%HCl during growth, one-step deposition was possible helped by stress release due to void formation at the SiC/Si interface.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2001

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References

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