Effect of Melt-Back Process on the Quality of Grown Crystal in SiC Solution Growth

We investigated the effect of a melt-back process on the quality of the grown crystal in 4H-SiC solution growth. In our experiments, the crystal was grown by top-seeded solution growth (TSSG) method with and without melt-back, following which the quality of the obtained crystals was compared. When solution growth was carried out without melt-back, solvent inclusions and a different polytype were observed. When molten KOH etching was conducted, the dislocation density in the crystals at the early stage of growth became much higher than that in a seed crystal. Solvent inclusions, a different polytype, and an increase in dislocations were suppressed when solution growth was performed with melt-back. It was confirmed that melt-back is necessary to prevent the deterioration of crystal quality at the early stage of solution growth.