Influence of silicon cluster on epitaxial growth of silicon carbide

Precursor concentration dependences of growth rate, doping concentration and surface morphology have been investigated in the epitaxial growth of 4H-SiC（0001） epilayers with horizontal hot-wall CVD system using various precursor concentrations under constant C/Si ratio. Form the experimental data it is found that silicon cluster which is formed through gas phase nucleation plays an important role in controlling the doping concentration and epitaxial growth rate of the silicon carbide. It was observed that the concentration of silicon clusters cannot reach the equilibrium value in the process by using a low Sill4 concentration, and this phenomenon has not been reported by others.