Differences in Emission Spectra of Dislocations in 4H-SiC Epitaxial Layers

2008 ◽  
Vol 600-603 ◽  
pp. 345-348 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kendrick X. Liu ◽  
X. Zhang ◽  
Robert E. Stahlbush ◽  
Marek Skowronski ◽  
Joshua D. Caldwell

Material defects such as Si-core and C-core partial dislocations (PDs) and threading screw dislocations (TSDs) and threading edge dislocations (TEDs) are being investigated for their contributions to device performances in 4H-SiC. Non-destructive electroluminescence and photoluminescence techniques can be powerful tools for examining these dislocations. In this report, these techniques were used to reveal the different spectral characteristics for the mentioned dislocations. At higher injection levels, both the Si-core and C-core PDs possessed a spectral peak at 700 nm. However, at lower injection levels, the spectral peak for the Si-core PD remained at 700 nm while the peak for the C-core moved to longer wavelengths. For the threading dislocations, TSDs possessed a peak between 800 and 850 nm while the TEDs possessed a peak at 600 nm independent of the injection levels.

2007 ◽  
Vol 994 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yi Chen ◽  
Michael Dudley ◽  
Kendrick X Liu ◽  
Robert E Stahlbush

AbstractElectron-hole recombination enhanced glide of Shockley partial dislocations bounding expanding stacking faults and their interactions with threading dislocations in 4H silicon carbide epitaxial layers have been studied using synchrotron white beam X-ray topography and in situ electroluminescence. The mobile silicon-core Shockley partial dislocations bounding the stacking faults are able to cut through threading edge dislocations leaving no trailing dislocation segments in their wake. However, when the Shockley partial dislocations interact with threading screw dislocations, trailing 30o partial dislocation dipoles are initially deposited in their wake due to the pinning effect of the threading screw dislocations. These dipoles spontaneously snap into their screw orientation, regardless the normally immobile carbon-core Shockley partial dislocation components in the dipoles. They subsequently cross slip and annihilate, leaving a prismatic stacking fault in (2-1-10) plane with the displacement vector 1/3[01-10].


2013 ◽  
Vol 740-742 ◽  
pp. 15-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuji Yamamoto ◽  
S. Harada ◽  
Kazuaki Seki ◽  
Atsushi Horio ◽  
Takato Mitsuhashi ◽  
...  

We investigated the dislocation behaviors during the solution growth on Si-face and C-face off-axis 4H-SiC seed crystals by using synchrotron X-ray topography. On Si-face, almost all threading screw dislocations (TSDs) and threading edge dislocations (TEDs) are converted into Frank-type defects and basal plane dislocations (BPDs), respectively. On the other hand, on C-face, TSDs were hardly converted. Some of TEDs were converted to BPDs and BPD-TED reconversion was often occurred. Therefore, to reduce density of threading dislocations in the grown crystal, it is better to use Si-face off-axis seed crystal.


2008 ◽  
Vol 600-603 ◽  
pp. 357-360 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yi Chen ◽  
Xian Rong Huang ◽  
Ning Zhang ◽  
Michael Dudley ◽  
Joshua D. Caldwell ◽  
...  

Electron-hole recombination activated Shockley partial dislocations bounding expanding stacking faults and their interactions with threading dislocations have been studied in 4H-SiC epitaxial layers using synchrotron x-ray topography. The bounding partials appear as white stripes or narrow dark lines in back-reflection X-ray topographs recorded using the basal plane reflections. Such contrast variations are attributable to the defocusing/focusing of the diffracted X-rays due to the edge component of the partial dislocations, which creates a convex/concave distortion of the basal planes. Simulation results based on the ray-tracing principle confirm our argument. The sign of the partial dislocations can be subsequently determined.


2011 ◽  
Vol 679-680 ◽  
pp. 298-301 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Katsuno ◽  
Y. Watanabe ◽  
Fujiwara Hirokazu ◽  
Masaki Konishi ◽  
Takeo Yamamoto ◽  
...  

A new method for the separation of threading screw dislocations (TSD) and threading edge dislocations (TED) in a 4H-SiC epitaxial layer is proposed by measurement of the etch pit angles. The etch pit angles of the TSDs and TEDs were 28±3 and 18±3°, respectively. In the case of etch pit depths within the epitaxial layer, the values were almost constant. Almost all of the TSDs were converted from basal plane dislocations (BPDs) at the epitaxial layer/substrate interface.


2012 ◽  
Vol 717-720 ◽  
pp. 359-362 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tetsuo Hatakeyama ◽  
Kyoichi Ichinoseki ◽  
Hiroshi Yamaguchi ◽  
N. Sugiyama ◽  
Hirofumi Matsuhata

The origins of certain types of micrometer-scale surface morphological defects on SiC epitaxial layers are clarified using X-ray topography. Two types of surface morphological defects are commonly observed on Si- and C-face epitaxial layers. Relatively large pits (around 4μm×2μm) originate from threading screw dislocations (TSDs). Relatively small pits (around 1.5μm×1μm) originate from threading edge dislocations (TEDs). The shapes and depths of these surface morphological pits depend on the fabrication history of the epitaxial wafers.


2013 ◽  
Vol 740-742 ◽  
pp. 653-656 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Nagano ◽  
I. Kamata ◽  
H. Tsuchida

Photoluminescence images and spectra of threading screw dislocations (TSDs) and threading edge dislocations (TEDs) were obtained and compared with synchrotron X-ray topography images. Discrimination between TSDs and TEDs by analysis of PL spot size in the imaging technique as well as PL spectra of the dislocations in a near infrared region is demonstrated. We also have succeeded in cross-sectional PL imaging of threading dislocations in a thick epilayer.


2006 ◽  
Vol 955 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yi Chen ◽  
Hui Chen ◽  
Ning Zhang ◽  
Michael Dudley ◽  
Ronghui Ma

ABSTRACTInteraction between basal plane dislocations and single or well-spaced threading dislocations is discussed based on synchrotron white beam X-ray topographic studies carried out on physical vapor transport grown hexagonal silicon carbide single crystals. The basal plane dislocations are able to cut through single or well-spaced threading edge dislocations even if the formation of kinks/jogs is energetically unfavorable while threading screw dislocations were mostly observed to act as effective pinning points. However, basal plane dislocations can sometimes cut through a threading screw dislocation, forming a superjog and which subsequently migrates on the prismatic plane via a cross-slip process. Threading edge dislocation walls act as obstacles for the glide of basal plane dislocations and the mechanism by which this occurs is discussed. The character of low angle grain boundaries and their dislocation content are discussed.


2003 ◽  
Vol 798 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angelika Vennemann ◽  
Jens Dennemarck ◽  
Roland Kröger ◽  
Tim Böttcher ◽  
Detlef Hommel ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTGaN samples of this study were chemically wet etched to gain easier access to the dislocation sturcture. The scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy investigations revealed four different types of etch pits. After brief etching, several dislocations with screw component showed large etch pits, which may be correlated with the core of the screw dislocation. By means of SiNx micromasking the dislocation density could be reduced by more than one order of magnitude. The reduction of threading dislocations in the SiNx region in GaN grown on 〈0001〉 sapphire is due to bending of the threading dislocations into the {0001} plane, such that they form dislocation loops if they meet dislocations with opposite Burgers vectors. Accordingly, the achievable reduction of the dislocation density is limited by the probability that these dislocations interact. Edge dislocations bend more easily on account of their low line tension. This results in a preferential bending and reduction of dislocations with edge character.


2008 ◽  
Vol 600-603 ◽  
pp. 317-320 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert E. Stahlbush ◽  
Brenda L. VanMil ◽  
Kendrick X. Liu ◽  
Kok Keong Lew ◽  
Rachael L. Myers-Ward ◽  
...  

The evolution of basal plane dislocations (BPDs) in 4H-SiC epitaxy during its growth is investigated by using two types of interrupted growth in conjunction with ultraviolet photoluminescence (UVPL) imaging of the dislocations. For the first, each epitaxial growth was stopped after 10-20 μm and a UVPL map was collected. For the second, changing the gas flow interrupted the growth and the BPDs were imaged at the end. The first sequence made it possible to track the formation of half-loop arrays and show that they arise from BPDs that glide perpendicular to the offcut direction. For both types, each interruption causes between 30 – 50% of the BPDs to be converted to threading edge dislocations (TEDs). This result suggests that using interrupted growth may be an alternate method to producing epitaxial layers with low BPD concentration.


2013 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gunasekar Naresh-Kumar ◽  
Jochen Bruckbauer ◽  
Paul R. Edwards ◽  
Simon Kraeusel ◽  
Ben Hourahine ◽  
...  

AbstractWe combine two scanning electron microscopy techniques to investigate the influence of dislocations on the light emission from nitride semiconductors. Combining electron channeling contrast imaging and cathodoluminescence imaging enables both the structural and luminescence properties of a sample to be investigated without structural damage to the sample. The electron channeling contrast image is very sensitive to distortions of the crystal lattice, resulting in individual threading dislocations appearing as spots with black–white contrast. Dislocations giving rise to nonradiative recombination are observed as black spots in the cathodoluminescence image. Comparison of the images from exactly the same micron-scale region of a sample demonstrates a one-to-one correlation between the presence of single threading dislocations and resolved dark spots in the cathodoluminescence image. In addition, we have also obtained an atomic force microscopy image from the same region of the sample, which confirms that both pure edge dislocations and those with a screw component (i.e., screw and mixed dislocations) act as nonradiative recombination centers for the Si-doped c-plane GaN thin film investigated.


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