Epitaxial growth of β–SiC on silicon by bias-assisted hot filament chemical vapor deposition from solid graphite and silicon sources

Epitaxial β–SiC film has been grown on a mirror-polished Si(111) substrate using bias-assisted hot filament chemical vapor deposition (BA-HFCVD) at a substrate temperature of 1000 °C. A graphite plate was used as the only carbon source, and hydrogen was the only feeding gas to the deposition system. Atomic hydrogen, produced by hot filaments, reacted with the graphite to form hydrocarbon radicals which further reacted with the silicon substrate and deposited as β–SiC. The effect of negatively biasing the substrate is the key factor for epitaxial growth. Under the same growth conditions without negative bias, polycrystalline β–SiC resulted.