Epitaxial Growth of High Quality SiC of Pulsed Laser Deposition. Phase 1

The goal of this research program is to develop Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD) as a method for depositing device quality, single crystal silicon carbide (SiC) thin films. Phase I has demonstrated the ability to deposit single crystal 3C-SiC thin films on Si (100) and 6H-SiC (0001) substrates. An existing PLD facility was improved for SiC depositions. Prior to PLD, all substrates were prepared using a novel spin etch technique. Numerous experiments explored the effect of substrate temperature and laser fluence on the resulting SiC films. Composition of the films was measured by Rutherford backscattering spectrometry and Scanning Auger Microprobe. The films were slightly carbon-rich although the excess carbon component was attributed to background contaminants in our vacuum system. Optical analyses included Fourier Transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. Epitaxy of the 3C-SiC films was confirmed by x-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and electron diffraction. Epitaxial SiC films were grown on Si (100) at temperatures as low as 930 deg C, although the crystallinity of the films improved with increasing temperature. The best films result at laser fluences of 1.5 - 2 J/sq cm. Single crystal films were obtained on 6H-SiC (0001) and vicinal 6H-SiC (0001) oriented 3.5 towards (1120) at 1200 deg C.