Modeling of gas phase nucleation during silicon carbide chemical vapor deposition

Elimination of silicon gas phase nucleation using tetrafluorosilane (SiF4) precursor for high quality thick silicon carbide (SiC) homoepitaxy

“…One of the significant challenges in obtaining high quality thick SiC epitaxial films is to restrict/eliminate the Si gas‐phase nucleation or aerosol formation during growth. The generated aerosol particles adversely influence growth by reducing the growth rate due to precursor losses, and also affect crystal quality 1, since the Si droplets are carried to the crystal growth surface. Moreover, liquid aerosol particles adhere to the various reactor parts (parasitic deposition), and contribute to their severe degradation during epitaxial growth.…”

High growth rate 4H-SiC epitaxial growth using dichlorosilane in a hot-wall CVD reactor

“…Commercial SiC CVD processes typically use silane and light hydrocarbons, such as propane or ethylene, diluted in hydrogen as a carrier gas. While growth rates higher than the usual 6-7 um/hr [5] may be achieved by increasing precursor flow, this typically leads to the homogeneous nucleation of liquid silicon droplets, which react with the carbon precursors to generate an encapsulating SiC layer over the Si core [6]. Once encapsulated, the evaporation of these Si droplets is no longer possible.…”

Gas‐Phase and Surface Kinetics of Epitaxial Silicon Carbide Growth Involving Chlorine‐Containing Species

“…While the pure Si droplets can, in principle, re-evaporate if a favorable temperature/partial pressure ratio occurs, the SiC coated ones cannot. [9] To remove such a problem, the use of chlorinated silicon precursors or simply the addition of HCl has been suggested in the literature, and several processes of that kind are under development. [10,11] The use of chlorinated precursors is so promising that is under investigation also for bulk growth via high temperature (HT) CVD.…”