Continuous feed physical vapor transport: Toward high purity and long boule growth of SiC

A new reactor concept for the growth of silicon carbide bulk crystals and/or thick epitaxial layers is presented. A coupled approach involving process modeling and numerical simulation and experimental results and characterization was used. This new process combines both high-temperature chemical vapor deposition (HTCVD) for continuous feeding of the polycrystalline source and physical vapor transport (PVT) for single-crystal growth. A special crucible design was built to perform both steps simultaneously. For the feeding step (HTCVD), tetramethylsilane diluted in argon was used. The typical growth rate obtained by the continuous feed PVT process is 100 *mm/h at 1900 deg C. The growth of thick epitaxial layers is demonstrated with a pure two-dimensional growth regime.