Selective epitaxial growth of silicon carbide on SiO2 masked Si(100): The effects of temperature

Abstract

The effect of substrate temperature on the growth rate, crystal grain size, and SiO 2 mask stability in the selective epitaxial growth of silicon carbide deposited from SiH 4 , C 2 H 4 , and HCl 1 on silicon dioxide masked silicon ͑100͒ was examined. Depositing at atmospheric pressure and a Cl/Si input ratio of 50 to achieve good selectivity, increasing the substrate temperature from 950 to 1000°C increased the growth rate and the crystal size, and improved the film's surface morphology, but also enhanced the SiO 2 mask degradation rate, causing a loss of selectivity for long deposition times. For prolonged deposition times at 1000°C, SiC nucleation occurred at both voids formed in the mask from its reaction with the silicon substrate and on the SiO 2 mask itself-a consequence of increasing oxide surface roughness. ͓S0021-8979͑98͒00213-8͔

Direct epitaxial growth of submicron-patterned SiC structures on Si(001)

“…The degradation of the patterns at temperatures above 800°C occurs presumably by decomposition of silicon oxide and formation of volatile SiO. According to Edgar et al, 9 a 284-nm-thick silicon oxide layer was degraded at 950°C. In our experiments, the degradation of the much thinner ͑ϳfew nm͒ oxide layers started at the relatively low temperature of 800°C.…”

“…7 For selective area epitaxial growth of SiC, conventional chemical vapor deposition has been employed using a submicrometer-thick silicon oxide layer to impede nucleation. 8,9 However, high growth temperatures above 1000°C are required, which resulted in significant degradation of the microstructures. 9 The degradation is more severe for a thinner silicon oxide mask layer, which results in difficulty in making submicron-scale structures.…”

“…8,9 However, high growth temperatures above 1000°C are required, which resulted in significant degradation of the microstructures. 9 The degradation is more severe for a thinner silicon oxide mask layer, which results in difficulty in making submicron-scale structures. This article reports on the direct fabrication of SiC microstructures with resolution у130 nm using supersonic molecular jet ͑SMJ͒ epitaxy and resistless e-beam lithography.…”

Lateral epitaxial overgrowth and reduction in defect density of 3C-SiC on patterned Si substrates

“…One approach is to use selective epitaxial growth on patterned Si substrates followed by lateral epitaxial overgrowth (LEO). Silicon substrates, with dielectric mask materials such as SiO 2 , Si 3 N 4 and AlN, have been tried [1][2][3][4]. Saddow et al [1] reported some preliminary work on the selective epitaxy of SiC on Si using Si 3 N 4 and AlN as masks.…”

Selective epitaxial growth of 4H-SiC at reduced temperatures using halo-carbon precursor

“…SEG with SiO 2 mask was attempted only for heteroepitaxial growth of the cubic 3C-SiC polytype on Si substrates conducted at low growth temperatures. 4 Until recently, it has been considered impossible to grow electronic-quality single-crystalline homoepitaxial 4H-and 6H-SiC at temperatures below 1450-1500°C. For this reason, investigations of the physics involved in SEG for 4H-and 6H-SiC had to rely upon untraditional hightemperature masking techniques, 5,6 which constrained progress in this direction.…”