Development of “Si-Vapor Etching” and “Si Vapor Ambient Anneal” in TaC/Ta Composite Materials

We propose the thermal chemical etching process for Silicon Carbide (SiC) under the Si-vapor ambient using Tantalum Carbide / metal Tantalum composite materials (TaC/Ta). In this process, the high-rate “Si-vapor etching” method is applied to the removal of the surface damage and the formation of epi-ready surface. Over 10μm of “Si-vapor etching” provides smooth surface without latent scratch and low stacking faults density as same as on the CMP after epitaxial growth, which are observed by confocal microscope with differential interference contrast (C-DIC) microscope and Photo-Luminescence (PL) imaging measurement. Furthermore, the low-rate Si-vapor etching method, “Si-vapor ambient annealing” is applied to post-implantation activation annealing process without conventional C-cap. “Si-vapor ambient annealing” provides lower sheet resistance and smoother surface than the C-cap annealing after very high temperature annealing up to 2000 °C.