Antiphase boundaries in β-Sic thin films

Author(s):  
K. L. More ◽  
J. Bentley ◽  
R. F. Davis

Beta-SiC thin films are currently being grown via chemical vapor deposition (CVD) at North Carolina State University for potential use as a semiconductor material. Silicon carbide is a wide bandgap semiconductor with a high, saturated electron drift velocity and, as such, is a primary candidate material for high-temperature, high-speed, and high-frequency electronic devices. The β-SiC thin films are epitaxially grown on {100} silicon substrates by CVD of silicon and carbon from vapors of SiH4 and C2H4 entrained in H2 at a growth temperature of 1633 K. Since there is a lattice mismatch of -20% and a difference in thermal expansion coefficients of ∼10% between the silicon substrate and β-SiC, the silicon surface is reacted with C2H4 at 1583 K. for 150 s to form a converted β-SiC surface layer, approximately 5 nm thick, which helps prevent the formation of cracks during the growth of the thin films. The films are grown at a rate of ∼2 μm/h and are grown as thick as 40 μm.

Author(s):  
Karren L. More

Beta-SiC is an ideal candidate material for use in semiconductor device applications. Currently, monocrystalline β-SiC thin films are epitaxially grown on {100} Si substrates by chemical vapor deposition (CVD). These films, however, contain a high density of defects such as stacking faults, microtwins, and antiphase boundaries (APBs) as a result of the 20% lattice mismatch across the growth interface and an 8% difference in thermal expansion coefficients between Si and SiC. An ideal substrate material for the growth of β-SiC is α-SiC. Unfortunately, high purity, bulk α-SiC single crystals are very difficult to grow. The major source of SiC suitable for use as a substrate material is the random growth of {0001} 6H α-SiC crystals in an Acheson furnace used to make SiC grit for abrasive applications. To prepare clean, atomically smooth surfaces, the substrates are oxidized at 1473 K in flowing 02 for 1.5 h which removes ∽50 nm of the as-grown surface. The natural {0001} surface can terminate as either a Si (0001) layer or as a C (0001) layer.


1983 ◽  
Vol 27 ◽  
pp. 171-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
E.J. Fantner ◽  
H. Clemens ◽  
G. Bauer

AbstractMultilayers composed of many thin films of PbTe and Pb1-xSnxTe on BaF2 substrates were grown epitaxially by hot-wall-vapor deposition. In order to investigate the fraction of the total misfit (2.5x10-3 at x=O, 12) accommodated by misfit strain we have performed strain measurements on these superlattices by two different X-ray diffractometer techniques. We also report on substrate induced strain due to different thermal expansion coefficients of films and substrate. For film thicknesses smaller than 300 nm there is clear evidence for almost complete accommodation of lattice mismatch by misfit strain. Below room temperature the substrate induces a tensile strain which is comparable to that of the misfit strain.


1999 ◽  
Vol 595 ◽  
Author(s):  
Verena Kirchner ◽  
Heidrun Heinke ◽  
Sven Einfeldt ◽  
Detlef Hommel ◽  
Jaroslaw Z. Domagala ◽  
...  

AbstractThe thermal expansion of different GaN samples is studied by high-resolution Xray diffraction within the temperature range of 10 to 600 K. GaN bulk crystals, a homoepitaxial layer and different heteroepitaxial layers grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) and molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) were investigated. Below 100 K the thermal expansion coefficients (TEC) were found to be nearly zero which has to be taken into account when estimating the thermal strain of GaN layers in optical experiments commonly performed at low temperatures. The homoepitaxial layer and the underlying GaN substrate with a lattice mismatch of –6×10−4 showed identical thermal expansion. The comparison between the temperature behavior of lattice parameters of heteroepitaxial layers and bulk GaN points to a superposition of thermally induced biaxial strain and compressive hydrostatic strain.


Author(s):  
J. M. Brown ◽  
S. J. Pearton ◽  
R. Caruso ◽  
M. Stavola ◽  
K. T. Short ◽  
...  

The growth of GaAs layers on silicon substrates is under extensive investigation with a view to achieving the integration of GaAs-based optoelectronic devices with Si integrated circuit technology. The large lattice mismatch between Si and GaAs (-4%) together with the differences in the thermal expansion coefficients between the two materials results in a highly stressed interface. Several different approaches have been undertaken in attempts to reduce the dislocation density of the GaAs layer. The inclusion of graded composition GaAsP ‘buffer’ layers, intermediate Ge layers and the inclusion of strained layer superlattices in the growth regime have been reported by many workers. Growth of GaAs directly on Si has been reported to yield GaAs heteroepitaxial films suitable for electronic applications such as FETs and low threshold AlGaAs/GaAs double heterostructure injection lasers.


2004 ◽  
Vol 809 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yves Chriqui ◽  
Ludovic Largeau ◽  
Gilles Patriarche ◽  
Guillaume Saint-Girons ◽  
Sophie Bouchoule ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTOne of the major challenges during recent years was to achieve the compatibility of III-V semiconductor epitaxy on silicon substrates to combine opto-electronics with high speed circuit technology. However, the growth of high quality epitaxial GaAs on Si is not straightforward due to the intrinsic differences in lattice parameters and thermal expansion coefficients of the two materials. Moreover, antiphase boundaries (APBs) appear that are disadvantageous for the fabrication of light emitting devices. Recently the successful fabrication of high quality germanium layers on exact (001) Si by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) was reported. Due to the germanium seed layer the lattice parameter is matched to the one of GaAs providing for excellent conditions for the subsequent GaAs growth. We have studied the material morphology of GaAs grown on Ge/Si PS using atomic layer epitaxy (ALE) at the interface between Ge and GaAs. We present results on the reduction of APBs and dislocation density on (001) Ge/Si PS when ALE is applied. The ALE allows the reduction of the residual dislocation density in the GaAs layers to 105 cm−2 (one order of magnitude as compared to the dislocation density of the Ge/Si PS). The optical properties are improved (ie. increased photoluminescence intensity). Using ALE, light emitting diodes based on strained InGaAs/GaAs quantum well as well as of In(Ga)As quantum dots on an exactly oriented (001) Ge/Si pseudo-substrate were fabricated and characterized.


1996 ◽  
Vol 423 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Mirzakuchaki ◽  
H. Golestanian ◽  
E. J. Charlson ◽  
T. Stacy

AbstractAlthough many researchers have studied boron-doped diamond thin films in the past several years, there have been few reports on the effects of doping CVD-grown diamond films with phosphorous. For this work, polycrystalline diamond thin films were grown by hot filament chemical vapor deposition (HFCVD) on p-type silicon substrates. Phosphorous was introduced into the reaction chamber as an in situ dopant during the growth. The quality and orientation of the diamond thin films were monitored by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Current-voltage (I-V) data as a function of temperature for golddiamond film-silicon-aluminum structures were measured. The activation energy of the phosphorous dopants was calculated to be approximately 0.29 eV.


2003 ◽  
Vol 778 ◽  
Author(s):  
Z. Xu ◽  
C. Waters ◽  
X. Wang ◽  
N. Sudhir ◽  
S. Yarmolenko ◽  
...  

AbstractComposite thin films of yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ) and alumina (Al2O3) have been synthesized using liquid fuel combustion chemical vapor deposition (CCVD) and pulsed laser deposition (PLD) in the NSF Center for Advanced Materials and Smart Structures (CAMSS) at North Carolina A&T State University. With the CCVD technique, addition of alumina was realized by adding the designated amount of aluminum-organic in the reagent solution; while with PLD, doping of alumina in YSZ was accomplished by alternative ablations of an YSZ target and an alumina target. Variations in morphology, surface roughness and nano-mechanical properties of the composite thin films of Al2O3/YSZ were characterized. Crystal size of the films processed by CCVD was much larger than that processed by PLD; surface roughness follows the similar tendency. Upon high-temperature annealing, crystals in the PLD processed thin films grew up to 300 nm. The effect of Al2O3 in YSZ thin films on their nano-mechanical properties was dependent on the film deposition techniques in our research. For the films deposited by CCVD, addition of Al2O3 improved the nano hardness and elastic modulus of YSZ thin films, while a decline was observed in the mechanical properties of the films deposited by PLD.


2000 ◽  
Vol 637 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Niu ◽  
A.R. Teren ◽  
B.H. Hoerman ◽  
B.W. Wessels

AbstractEpitaxial ferroelectric BaTiO3 thin films have been developed as a material for microphotonics. Efforts have been directed toward developing these materials for thin film electro-optic modulators. Films were deposited by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) on both MgO and silicon substrates. The electro-optic properties of the thin films were measured. For BaTiO3 thin films grown on (100) MgO substrates, the effective electro-optic coefficient, reff depended on the magnitude and direction of the electric field. Coefficients as high as 260 pm/V have been measured. Investigation of BaTiO3 films on silicon has been undertaken. Epitaxial BaTiO3 thin films were deposited by MOCVD on (100) MgO layers grown on silicon (100) substrates by metal-organic molecular beam epitaxy (MOMBE). The MgO serves as the low index optical cladding layer as well as an insulating layer. X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) indicated that BaTiO3 was epitaxial with an orientational relation given by BaTiO3 (100)//Si (100) and BaTiO3[011]//Si [011]. Polarization measurements indicated that the BaTiO3 epitaxial films on Si were in the ferroelectric state.


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