Vanadium doping using VCl sub(4 source during the chloro-carbon epitaxial growth of 4H-SiC)

Semi-insulating 4H-SiC epitaxial layers were produced by chloro-carbon epitaxial growth at an intermediate growth temperature of 1450 [deg]C and at high growth temperatures of 1600 [deg]C, enabling growth rates of 6 and in excess of 60 [micro]m/h, respectively. Vanadium tetrachloride was used as the source of vanadium doping. In epitaxial layers otherwise dominated by nitrogen donors, vanadium-acceptor compensation mechanism was achieved, providing resistivities in excess of 10[super]5 [Omega] cm in fully compensated epilayers. Partial compensation enabled control of n-type doping in a wide range, down to around 10[super]14 cm[super]-3 in epilayers with N sub(2 donor concentration of 1x10[super]15 cm[super]-3. The domination of deep levels of vanadium was confirmed by photoluminescence spectroscopy. The limits for vanadium concentration consistent with degradation-free epilayer morphology were established to be around 1-1.5x10[super]17 and slightly less than 1x10[super]17 cm[super]-3 for the growth at 1450 and 1600 [deg]C, respectively.)