High‐Quality and Wafer‐Scale Cubic Silicon Carbide Single Crystals

Abstract

Cubic silicon carbide (3C‐SiC) has superior mobility and thermal conduction over that of widely applied hexagonal 4H‐SiC. Moreover, much lower concentration of interfacial traps between insulating oxide gate and 3C‐SiC helps fabricate reliable and long‐life devices like metal‐oxide‐semiconductor field effect transistors. However, the growth of high‐quality and wafer‐scale 3C‐SiC crystals has remained a big challenge up to now despite decades‐long efforts by researchers because of its easy transformation into other polytypes during growth, limiting the development of 3C‐SiC‐based devices. Herein, we report that 3C‐SiC can be made thermodynamically favored from nucleation to growth on a 4H‐SiC substrate by top‐seeded solution growth technique, beyond what is expected by classical nucleation theory. This enables the steady growth of high‐quality and large‐size 3C‐SiC crystals (2–4‐inch in diameter and 4.0–10.0 mm in thickness) sustainable. The as‐grown 3C‐SiC crystals are free of other polytypes and have high‐crystalline quality. Our findings broaden the mechanism of hetero‐seed crystal growth and provide a feasible route to mass production of 3C‐SiC crystals, offering new opportunities to develop power electronic devices potentially with better performances than those based on 4H‐SiC.

Determination of Work Function for p- and n-Type 4H-SiC Single Crystals via Scanning Kelvin Probe Force Microscopy

“…Fortunately, a recent breakthrough in the high-temperature solution growth (HTSG) technique provides wafer-scale (4-6 in) p-SiC single crystals with high crystalline quality and uniform Al doping in both the axial and radial directions. [6,7] The availability p-SiC single crystals enables the possibility of studying the effect of conductive type on the WF of 4H-SiC. As reported in 6H-SiC, [8] the WFs for n-and p-type SiC are slightly different.…”

Wafer-Scale p-Type SiC Single Crystals with High Crystalline Quality

“…As a matter of fact, 4-inch p-type SiC single crystals have been successfully grown from Al-containing melts, , although the defects remains unclear, attributing to the modification of solid–liquid interfacial energy . The essential role of solid–liquid interfacial energy is further confirmed by the growth of wafer-scale cubic SiC single crystals . The stabilization of the 4H-polytype by the solid–liquid interfacial energy is the basis for the growth of wafer-scale p-type SiC single crystals.…”