The etching mechanism of SiC single crystals by molten KOH has been investigated. The etching process is significantly affected by the etching ambience: the etching rate is greatly reduced by a nitrogen gas purge. This result clearly suggests an essential role of dissolved oxygen in the melt. SiC{0001} surfaces show a large surface polarity dependence, where the etching rate of SiC(0001)C is about four times larger than that of SiC(0001)Si. The etching rate of SiC(0001)C exhibits an Arrhenius type temperature dependence with an activation energy of 15-20 kcal/mol. The obtained activation energy and selectivity between the (0001)C and the (0001)Si surfaces are quite similar to those for thermal oxidation, which implies that the surface oxidation process occurs during molten KOH etching of SiC and is the rate-limiting step for the etching. We have conducted a comparative study of molten KOH etching with thermal oxidation in regard to the crystal orientation, polytype and carrier concentration dependence.

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Raman spectra of 6H-SiC crystals including stacking faults have been examined for the c face using backscattering geometry. The intensity of the transverse optical phonon band at 796 cm−1, which corresponds to the phonon mode at the Γ point in 3C-SiC, is sensitive to the stacking faults. We found that the intensity of this band depends on the stacking fault density. This is explained based on the bond polarizability model. The spatial distribution of the stacking faults is studied by Raman image measurement.

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