Symposium Organizers
Michael A. Capano Purdue University
Michael Dudley State University of New York-Stony Brook
Tsunenobu Kimoto Kyoto University-Katsura
Adrian R. Powell Cree Inc.
Shaoping Wang Fairfield Crystal Technology
B1: Bulk Growth I
Session Chairs
Tuesday PM, April 18, 2006
Room 3004 (Moscone West)
9:15 AM - **B1.1
Recent Progress in the Growth and Polishing of 75mm and 100 mm SiC Substrates for RF and High Power Electronic Applications.
T. Anderson 1 , J. Chen 1 , E. Emorhokpor 1 , A. Gupta 1 , C. Martin 1 , P. Wu 1 , M. Yoganathan 1 , Andrew Souzis 1 , I. Zwieback 1
1 , II-VI Incorporated, Pine Brook, New Jersey, United States
Show AbstractHigh quality, affordable SiC substrates are required for development and large-scale manufacturing of new generations of both RF and power semiconductor devices. Major advances by multiple SiC substrate suppliers have been made over the last several years. Micropipe densities are no longer the major problem they once were, overall crystal quality and uniformity has dramatically improved, wafer diameter has been scaled from 2' to 100mm and prices have been reduced. However, at the same time, customer expectations and process requirements have been continuously increased and tightened. In addition, different issues, such as dislocations and discrete defects (of various types), physical wafer parameters such as warp and LTV, semiconductor industry grade surface cleaning and packaging have become increasingly critical.Large-diameter semi-insulating 6H-SiC and n-type 4H-SiC single crystals are grown at II-VI using a patented Advanced PVT (APVT) sublimation growth process. This talk will focus on the status and results of current crystal growth technology development efforts at II-VI, including 100mm scale-up, dislocation density (and other defect) reduction as well as manufacturing and engineering improvement data from wafer fabrication, polishing and cleaning.This Work has been Supported in part by MDA, AFRL and DARPA under Contract #’s FA8650-05-C-5400, F33615-03-C-5420 and W911QX-05-C-0087 respectively.
9:45 AM - B1.2
Effect of Radiation in Solid during SiC Sublimation Growth.
Shin-ichi Nishizawa 1 , Shin-ichi Nakashima 1 , Tomohisa Kato 1
1 , National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Tsukuba Japan
Show Abstract Sublimation is the most commonly used technique to grow SiC bulk single crystal. In this technique, source powder and seed crystal are set inside a closed carbon crucible, and heated up over 2000 K. It is well-known that radiation heat transfer is very important under such high temperature condition. So, the radiation heat transfer in gas phase is usually considered in the modeling of SiC sublimation. However, Silicon carbide single crystal is semi-transparent. In this case, radiation heat transfer not only in gas phases but also in a growing crystal might be very important. From this point of view, the effect of infrared absorption on temperature field during SiC sublimation growth was numerically investigated. There is few report on infrared absorption coefficient of SiC single crystal. In this study, the infrared absorption coefficient was estimated by following way. At first, the dielectric function ε(ω) was considered with a concentration of free electrons. This leads that ε(ω) depends on the doping concentration and wave length. From ε(ω), the optical index of reflection and the extinction coefficient were calculated. Then, the absorption coefficient of SiC single crystal was estimated from these coefficients with functions of doping concentration and wave length. With taking account of estimated absorption coefficient, the heat transfer inside a furnace was numerically analyzed with commercially available software (CFD-ACE+). Radiation heat transfer was analyzed by the Discrete Ordinates Method. In order to make clear the effect of absorption in solid, simple cylindrical crucible design was used in this study. The numerical simulation was carried out with varying the doping concentration, and also grown crystal length. At the initial stage with thin seed crystal, the temperature distribution inside a crucible was not affected by the radiation in solid. After the crystal growth, however, the temperature distribution inside a growing crystal strongly depended on the absorption coefficient. Under the same growth conditions (ex., same induction current, or same observed temperature), as increasing the absorption coefficient, the temperature gradient along the growing-axis at the growing surface increased. This is because the infrared radiation was absorbed near the surface with large absorption coefficient. This means that temperature distribution and also thermal stress inside a growing crystal strongly depend on the doping concentration. In other words, the growth condition should be determined with taking account of doping concentration.
10:00 AM - B1.3
High Carrier Lifetime Bulk-Grown 4H-SiC Substrates for Power Applications.
David Malta 1 , Jason Jenny 1 , Valeri Tsvetkov 1 , Mrinal Das 1 , Don Hobgood 1 , Calvin Carter 1
1 , Cree, Inc., Durham, North Carolina, United States
Show Abstract10:15 AM - B1.4
Growth and Characterization of Nitrogen Doped 4H SiC Boules by Halide Chemical Vapor Deposition.
Mark Fanton 1 , Alexander Polyakov 2 , Sung Wook Huh 2 , Paul Klein 3 , Marek Skowronski 2 , David Snyder 1 , Brian Weiland 1
1 Electro-Optics Center, Penn State University, Freeport, Pennsylvania, United States, 2 Materials Science & Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, 3 , Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, District of Columbia, United States
Show AbstractGrowth of high purity, nitrogen doped, 4H SiC crystals for use in high power electronic applications was accomplished by halide chemical vapor deposition (HCVD). Growth of the 4H polytype was evaluated as a function of seed polytype, off-cut and surface polarity at growth temperatures of 2000°C to 2050°C, which are well above typical epitaxial growth conditions and well below typical bulk sublimation growth conditions. High resolution x-ray diffraction showed that growth of the 4H polytype requires growth on the carbon face of 4H seed crystals. The effect of the C/Si ratio and the nitrogen flow rate on nitrogen incorporation were characterized by secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS). Radial uniformity of doping across 50mm diameter wafers was less than 10% as assessed by mercury probe CV measurements. Bulk crystals with an average boron concentration of 5e14 atoms/cm3 and nitrogen concentrations from 1e16 atoms/cm3 to 1e19 atoms/cm3 were readily achieved by adjusting the nitrogen flow rate and the C/Si ratio. Characterization of deep trap concentrations by deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) and estimates of carrier lifetime by photoluminescence decay time will be discussed in connection with changes in the C/Si ratio used for crystal growth. Factors affecting the growth of 50mm and larger diameter crystals longer than 5mm will be discussed with the aid of finite element modeling of the thermal gradients and gas flow patterns in the HCVD reactor.
10:30 AM - **B1.5
Investigation Of Dislocation Behavior During Bulk Crystal Growth Of SiC.
Noboru Ohtani 1 , M Katsuno 1 , H Tsuge 1 , M Nakabayashi 1 , T Fujimoto 1 , H Yashiro 1 , M Sawamura 1 , T Aigo 1 , T Hoshino 1
1 Advanced Technology Research Laboratories, Nippon Steel Corporation, Chiba Japan
Show Abstract11:00 AM - B1: Bulk I
BREAK
B2: Epitaxial Growth I
Session Chairs
Tuesday PM, April 18, 2006
Room 3004 (Moscone West)
11:30 AM - B2.1
High Growth Rate Process in a SiC Horizontal Reactor with the Addition of HCl: Structural and Electrical Characterization.
Francesco La Via 1 , Giuseppa Galvagno 1 , Andrea Firrincieli 1 , Salvatore Di Franco 1 , Andrea Severino 1 , Marco Mauceri 3 , Stefano Leone 3 , Giuseppe Abbondanza 3 , Ferdinando Portuese 3 , Lucia Calcagno 2 , Gaetano Foti 2
1 , CNR-IMM, Catania Italy, 3 , Epitaxial Technology Center, Catania Italy, 2 Physics Department, Catania University, Catania Italy
Show AbstractA new process that overcomes the limitation of the low growth rate, typical of the silicon carbide epitaxy, will be presented in this work. The introduction of HCl avoid the homogeneous nucleation in the gas phase of silicon precipitate and gives the possibility of increasing the Si/H2 ratio to 0.6% with a consequent increase of the growth rate up to 112 μm/h. In this work, we have characterized the epitaxial layers grown with the addition of HCl by electrical, optical and structural analyses. A comparison with an optimized process without the addition of HCl is reported too. The epitaxial layers were optimized, in a first step, by optical microscopy, low temperature photoluminescence, KOH etch, atomic force microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy in plan view. The effects of the deposition parameters on the surface roughness and the defects density have been studied in detail. From this preliminary study it has been observed that, increasing the Si/H2 ratio, it is necessary to increase the deposition temperature and to decrease the C/Si ratio. Then, several Schottky diodes with different contact areas have been realized with boron implanted edge termination and using a nickel silicide (Ni2Si) as Schottky barrier, on these optimized epitaxial layers. These diodes were characterized by current-voltage (I-V) and capacitance-voltage (C-V) maps of the entire wafer to obtain statistical information, over more than 400 diodes, of the spatial distribution of defects and doping uniformity. The effect of several deposition parameters (Si/H2 ratio, Cl/Si ratio, Si/C ratio and deposition temperature) on the electrical characteristics of Schottky diodes has been studied too. From this study an optimized process has been obtained that gives Schottky diodes electrical characteristics comparable with the standard epitaxial process with the great advantage of an epitaxial growth rate a factor fourteen higher. This high growth rate gives the possibility to grow very thick layers (about 100 μm) with a good quality and at low cost. These thick layers are needed for power devices with breakdown voltage of about 10 KV.
11:45 AM - B2.2
Growth Rate, Morphology Control, and Dopant Incorporation in Low-temperature Epitaxial Growth of 4H-SiC Using CH3Cl Growth Precursor.
Yaroslav Koshka 1 , Huang-De Lin 1
1 , Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, Mississippi, United States
Show AbstractIn our previous work, a possibility of good-quality homoepitaxial growth of 4H-SiC at temperatures below 13000C was demonstrated. In this paper, the mechanism of the growth at reduced temperatures using halo-carbon growth precursor chloromethane is further investigated. The trend of the growth rate saturation at high flow rates of the silicon growth precursor is explained using the model of silicon vapor condensation. A possibility to suppress silicon condensation and increase evaporation/etching of silicon clusters in order to increase the growth rate is explored. Strong dependence of the growth morphology on the Si/C ratio is established. It is demonstrated that identification of the window of Si/C ratio favorable for good epilayer morphology is critical for achieving higher growth rates without facing the morphology degradation. It should be noted, however, that the effective Si/C ratio above the growth surface may be very different from the input ratio, with the difference drastically increased when the epitaxial growth is conducted at low temperatures. The higher difference at lower temperatures can be explained by gas phase reactions taking place farther from thermodynamic equilibrium than at higher temperatures. No less important factor is the depletion of the silicon growth precursor due to silicon vapor condensation, which can significantly reduce the magnitude of the effective Si/C ratio.The temperature dependence of the growth rate is used to extract the activation energy of the growth process and identify the factors limiting the growth rate. Comparison of the activation energy of the growth rate with that of the fitting parameter of the growth rate dependence on silane flow allowed one to identify mechanisms determining the growth rate and its dependence on precursor flows and temperature.A pronounced dependence of dopant incorporation on the growth temperature was observed during the low-temperature epitaxial growth. Almost an order of magnitude variation in the net donor concentration was caused by less than 500C variation in the temperature at the growth surface. Unless the temperature distribution inside the susceptor is carefully optimized, the identified trends may result in significant doping non-homogeneity across the wafer surface. On the other hand, strong sensitivity of impurity incorporation to the growth temperature provides additional control over the epilayer doping and a possibility to vary doping in a wide range.
12:00 PM - **B2.3
Growth of Crystalline Silicon Carbide by CVD Using Chlorosilane Gases
Mark Loboda 1 , M. MacMillan 1 , J. Wan 1 , G. Chung 1 , E. Carlson 1 , Y. Makarov 2 , A. Galyukov 2 , M. Molnar 3
1 , Dow Corning Corporation, Midland, Michigan, United States, 2 , Semiconductor Technology Research, Inc., Richmond, Virginia, United States, 3 , Hemlock Semiconductor Corporation, Hemlock, Michigan, United States
Show AbstractChemical vapor deposition (CVD) processes for silicon carbide epitaxy in semiconductor applications have traditionally implemented processes based on monosilane (SiH4) and bydrocarbon (CxHy) chemistry. This trend is interesting as it is in contrast to chlorosilane (H[4-x]SiClx) chemistry established in mass production processes in silicon epitaxy [1] and also high temperature CVD processes for high reliability/purity SiC coating on monolithic graphite which use organochlorosilane ((CH3)ySiClx) chemistry.Recently, research in the epitaxial growth of SiC has started to study processes which include incorporation of chlorine containing precursors (e.g. HCl, MeCl) [2,3]. Semiconductor grade chlorosilane precursors have properties that are very suitable for use in the SiC epitaxy at high temperatures (1100 C≦T≦2500 C). A particularly desirable feature is that compared to SiH4, chlorosilanes have a reduced tendency towards homogeneous reactions in the gas phase which can result in defects in the deposited epilayer material [1]. Reduced homogeneous reaction tendency can extend the process space to allow adjustment other process parameters such as to increase SiC growth rates and/or improve material quality. This paper will review the basic chemistry of the reactions of several known approaches employed to grow SiC from chlorine containing gas mixtures by CVD. At Dow Corning, chlorosilane-based chemistries have been successfully implemented to deposit high quality (thickness variations <2%, background doping <1E14/cm3, contact layer doping >1E20/cm3) SiC epilayers in both R&D and production epitaxy equipment [4]. To further industry insight on the evolution of Cl-based SiC growth approaches, experimental and modeling results from efforts on chlorosilane SiC growth at the Dow Corning Compound Semiconductor laboratory will be presented and include growth kinetics, n and p type doping trends, carrier lifetime and defect evolution. References[1] Wolf, S., and Tauber, R., Silicon Processing for the VLSI Era; Vol. 1, Lattice Press, 1986[2] Myers, R., Kordina, O., Sishkin, Z., Rao, S., Everly, R., Saddow, S.D., Mat. Sci. Forum Vols. 483-485 (2005),p.73-6[3] Koshka, Y., Lin, H., Melnychuk, G., Mazzola, M., Wyatt, J., Mat. Sci. Forum Vols. 483-485 (2005),p.81-84[4] MacMillan, M., Loboda , M.J.; Chung, G., Carlson, E.; Wan, J. to be published in Silicon Carbide and Related Materials 2005, Trans Tech Publications 2006.
12:30 PM - B2.4
Epitaxial Growth of 4H-SiC with Ge-incorporated 4H-SiC Buffer Layer.
Akinori Seki 1 , Akira Manabe 1 , Yukari Ishikawa 2 , Noriyoshi Shibata 2
1 Higashifuji Technical Center, Toyota Motor Corporation, Susono, Shizuoka, Japan, 2 R & D , Japan Fine Ceramics Center, Nagoya, Aichi, Japan
Show Abstract12:45 PM - B2.5
HCl Induced 4H-SiC Growth Rate Increases and Morphology Issues in a Vertical Cold Wall Reactor
Chris Thomas 1 , MVS Chandrashekhar 1 , Yuri Makarov 2 , Michael Spencer 1
1 Electrical and Computer Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, United States, 2 , Widetronix, Inc, Ithaca, New York, United States
Show AbstractA Veeco built cold wall vertical reactor is used to demonstrate the effects of HCl on the growth rate of 8° off-axis 4H-SiC epilayers. A maximum growth rate for this reactor without HCl is about 5μm/hr. This is due to gas phase nucleation of silicon droplets from silane in the sharp temperature gradients of the reactor, which results is a perpetual limit on the silicon available for growth on the wafer surface. Our simulations and experimental results show that addition of HCl to the silane-propane-hydrogen system prevents silicon cluster formation and removes the saturation effect on the growth rate. An increase in growth rate to 40 μm/hr is demonstrated with use of HCl. The growth rate is linear with silane flow as long as the HCl/silane ratio is maintained, so even higher growth rates are possible for this system. The surface morphology for these high growth rate conditions, however, is an issue. HCl preferentially etches defect sites on the wafer and exposes crystal facets that are subsequently highlighted by epitaxial growth to form triangular defects. Polishing scratches and defects induced by wafer dicing are popular sites for triangular defect formation, therefore we demonstrate the effects of higher quality wafers with improved surface polish on the subsequent thickness uniformity and morphology of the epilayers. We also observed the effects of HCl at 50 torr. In addition, we demonstrate a shift in the site competition epitaxy growth window towards the silicon excess side of the C/Si ratio with the inclusion of HCl in the growth.
B3: Dislocations in Epitaxy
Session Chairs
Tuesday PM, April 18, 2006
Room 3004 (Moscone West)
2:30 PM - B3.1
Growth of Low Basal Plane Density SiC Epilayers with Minimized Surface Depressions.
Zehong Zhang 1 , Tangali Sudarshan 1
1 , Univ. of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, United States
Show Abstract2:45 PM - B3.2
Decrease in the Defect Density of Homoepitaxial Film by Surface Pretreatment of 4H-SiC Substrate.
Yukari Ishikawa 1 , Noriyoshi Shibata 1 , Akinori Seki 2 , Akira Manabe 2
1 R &D , Japan Fine Ceramics Center, Nagoya, Aichi, Japan, 2 Higashifuji Technical Center, Toyota Motor Co., Susono, Shizuoka, Japan
Show Abstract3:00 PM - B3.3
Non-Destructive Electro- and Photo-Luminescence Imaging of Dislocations in SiC Epitaxy.
Kendrick Liu 1 , Robert Stahlbush 1 , Karl Hobart 1 , Joseph Sumakeris 2 , F. J. Kub 1
1 , Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, District of Columbia, United States, 2 , Cree, Inc, Durham, North Carolina, United States
Show Abstract The development of bipolar SiC power devices is currently hampered by the capability to grow high quality epilayers containing low basal plane dislocations (BPDs). Non-destructive characterization techniques are needed to assist in developing and monitoring low-defect epitaxial growth processes. Electroluminescence (EL) imaging in the forward bias requiring little post-growth processing has been used successfully to examine BPDs in thick n- epitaxy drift layers [1]. Aluminum deposited at room temperature and lithographically patterned provides contact to a p+ anode layer. Because the Al layer is un-sintered, it causes minimal damage to the SiC surface and can be removed before devices on the wafer are fabricated. However, EL imaging requires the epi-growth of the anode layer, which may be undesirable in some cases. Photoluminescence (PL) imaging is a non-contact technique that does not require electrical biasing. Therefore, for PL imaging, the p+ anode layer is optional. PL mapping techniques have been previously demonstrated to reveal structural defects in SiC epitaxy layers using a UV-Ar+ laser excitation source [2-5]. We present and compare non-destructive EL and PL imaging techniques. Various epitaxy drift layers were examined with and without a p+ anode layer. For samples with the anode layer, a gridded Al metal film was deposited. Open areas in the grid allowed for imaging of the dislocation luminescence using a liquid nitrogen cooled CCD camera attached to a probe station. Electrical current is isolated by using guard rings patterned in the Al layer. For the PL imaging, a compact and portable UV-LED excitation source (365nm central wavelength and 10nm spectral half width) was used. The final lens-tube assembly of the UV-LED was only about 9 inches in length and a few ounces in weight. PL imaging was performed on both epilayers with and without an anode layer. Comparisons of the PL and EL images of Al patterned samples showed that the dislocation luminescence corresponded quite well with the EL technique revealing better dislocation-background contrast. In summary, we have reported non-destructive EL and PL imaging techniques to examine dislocations in n- epitaxy drift layers. For the EL technique, a simple Al pattern was used to forward bias the samples having an anode layer on top of a drift layer. For the PL technique, a low-cost, compact and portable UV-LED source was used. The PL technique can be totally non-contact. We have also shown that the PL technique correlated well with the EL technique. However, unlike the EL technique, the PL technique does not require an anode layer for the metal contact.[1] K. X. Liu, et al., Proceedings of the International Conference on Silicon Carbide and Related Materials, Pittsburgh, September 18-23, 2005.[2] M. Tajima, et al., Ibid.[3] T. Miyanagi, et al., Ibid.[4] I. Kamata, et al., Ibid.[5] J. M. Bluet, et al., Materials Science and Engineering, vol. B102, p. 277, 2003.
3:15 PM - B3.4
Prismatic Faults In 4H-Sic Pin Diodes.
Mark Twigg 1 , Nabil Bassim 1 , Robert Stahlbush 1 , Paul Losee 2 , Canhua Lee 2 , Ishwara Bhat 2 , T. Chow 2
1 Electronics Science and Technology Division, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, District of Columbia, United States, 2 Department of Electrical, Computer, and Systems Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York, United States
Show AbstractUsing light emission imaging (LEI), we have determined that certain planar defects in 4H-SiC PiN diodes do not expand in response to bias. Accordingly, site-specific cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (XTEM) observations of these diodes indicate that these planar defects are different in structure from the mobile Shockley stacking faults (SFs) that have been previously observed in 4H-SiC PiN diodes. Using focused ion beam (FIB) milling, XTEM samples have be prepared that allow imaging of defects as far as 8 microns below the device surface. Bright and dark field TEM observations reveal that some of these static planar defects are prismatic faults (PFs) that occasionally penetrate the device surface. These prismatic faults are found to lie on the {-2110} plane and to have a displacement vector in the <-2110> direction. While one PF was seen to extend at least 8 microns below the surface, other PFs were seen to exist only within the first micron from the diode surface. XTEM observations also indicate that PFs interact with SFs lying on the (0001) plane.
3:30 PM - B3.5
Electrical and Lifetime Characterization of In-Grown Stacking Faults in 4H-SiC
Joshua Caldwell 1 , Paul Klein 1 , Robert Stahlbush 1 , Orest Glembocki 1 , Karl Hobart 1 , Fritz Kub 1
1 Power Electronics, Naval Research Lab, Washington , District of Columbia, United States
Show AbstractIn-grown stacking faults (IGSFs) within 4H-SiC epilayers and diodes have recently come under increased scrutiny. Three different types have been identified a triple SF,1 the carrot defect2 and an 8H-SiC planar inclusion.3,4 However, electrical characterization has been limited to forward IV4 and Ballistic Electron Emission Microscopy.5We present optical beam induced current (OBIC) imaging of two types of IGSFs showing these defects may act as either a shunt allowing current leakage or as a semi-insulating region. OBIC provides non-destructive, spatial characterization of the electrical activity of defects within devices, giving images of dominant leakage paths. Here, in the absence of an applied bias, these two IGSFs appeared as triangular areas of either bright (high current) or dark (low current) contrast, respectively. Reverse IV measurements support the OBIC observations, as the leakage current in the diodes with high current IGSFs was significantly higher than in diodes from the same wafer without IGSFs. This effect was most dramatic at low voltage. OBIC, under increasing reverse bias, showed these IGSFs to diminish in intensity in comparison to the surrounding diode. This indicates that while these defects act as leakage paths, the current capacity relegates the effect to low biases only. At no point did the dark IGSFs contribute to the leakage.Electroluminescence (EL) measurements of the IGSFs were similar, with a bright luminescence line at the surface with a dark triangular area extending below. Electrical stressing did not affect the IGSFs. However, the EL from the low current IGSF under 50X magnification appeared to be made of at least two lines, as opposed to the single line observed for the high current IGSFs. Carrier lifetimes were measured via the decay of the 391nm bandedge PL. The lifetimes did not appear to be dramatically affected by the IGSFs, as the decays, measured within and outside the faulted regions were similar. Because in OBIC the light absorption determines the carrier injection, it is sensitive to the band gap of the absorbing material. The presence of a larger OBIC current in the defect and carrier lifetimes similar to the surrounding region suggests the defect may be composed of a lower band gap polytype, such as 3C, 6H or 8H. Samples provided by Cree, Inc.; ONR contract N00014-02-C-0302, monitored by Dr. H. Dietrich.1 M. E. Twigg, R. E. Stahlbush, P. A. Losee, et al., presented at ICSCRM, (Pittsburgh, PA, 2005).2 M. Benamara, X. Zhang, M. Skowronski, et al., Applied Physics Letters 86, 021905 (2005).3 S. Izumi, H. Tsuchida, I. Kamata, et al., Applied Physics Letters 86, 202108 (2005).4 H. Fujiwara, T. Kimoto, T. Tojo, et al., Applied Physics Letters 87, 051912 (2005).5 K.-B. Park, Y. Ding, J. P. Pelz, et al., presented at ICSCRM, (Pittsburgh, PA, 2005).
3:45 PM - **B3.6
Do You Really Expect To Grow Epilayers On That? A Rationale For Growing Epilayers On Roughened Surfaces.
Joseph Sumakeris 1 , Brett Hull 1 , Michael O'Loughlin 1 , S. Ha 2 , Marek Skowronski 2 , John Palmour 1 , Calvin Carter, Jr. 1
1 , Cree, Inc, Durham, North Carolina, United States, 2 , Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States
Show AbstractThe unprecedented performance of bipolar SiC based power devices can dramatically improve the efficiency and capability of power control systems. However the advancement of this class of device has been stymied in recent years due to forward voltage instability (Vf drift) brought on by the expansion of structural defects within many of the devices during operation. The SiC community has recognized that the root cause of Vf drift in bipolar SiC devices is the expansion of basal plane dislocations into conduction limiting Shockley stacking faults within device regions that experience conductivity modulation. In this presentation, we describe relatively simple growth- surface preparation techniques that readily reduce the density of Vf drift inducing basal plane dislocations in epilayers to <10 cm-2 and permit the fabrication of bipolar SiC devices with very good Vf stability. We have found that the optimal process route requires etching the substrate surface prior to growing an epilayer to enhance the natural conversion of basal plane dislocations into threading edge dislocations. Subsequently the top surface of this relatively rough “conversion” epilayer is polished prior to growing the device structure. We provide details on processing parameters and potential problems as well as describe devices produced using low basal plane dislocation growth processes.
4:15 PM - B3: Epi Disloc
BREAK
B4: Bulk Growth II
Session Chairs
Tuesday PM, April 18, 2006
Room 3004 (Moscone West)
4:30 PM - B4.1
Electrical Properties of Undoped 4H-SiC Crystals Grown by Halide Chemical Vapor Deposition.
H.J. Chung 1 , S. Nigam 1 , S.W. Huh 1 , A.Y. Polyakov 1 , M. Skowronski 1 , E.R. Glaser 2 , J.A. Freitas,Jr. 2 , M.A. Fanton 3
1 Materials Science and Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, 2 , Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, District of Columbia, United States, 3 , Penn State University Electro-Optics Center, Freeport, Pennsylvania, United States
Show Abstract4:45 PM - **B4.2
Silicon Carbide Growth: Evaluation and Modeling.
Michel Pons 1 , Peter Wellmann 2 , Schin-Ichi Nishizawa 3 , Elisabeth Blanquet 1 , Jean-Marc Dedulle 1 , Didier Chaussende 1
1 LTPCM, INPGrenoble, Saint Martin D'Heres France, 2 Material Science, University of Erlangen, Erlangen Germany, 3 , AIST, Tsukuba Japan
Show AbstractModeling and simulation of the SiC growth processes, Physical Vapor Transport (PVT), Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) and hybrid techniques, are sufficiently mature to be used as a training tool for engineers as well as a growth machine design tool, e.g. when building new process equipment or up-scaling old ones. It is possible (i) to simulate accurately temperature and deposition distributions, as well as doping (ii) to quantify the limiting phenomena, (iii) to understand the important role of chlorine additions in CVD and hydrogen additions in PVT. Different modeling routes, thermodynamics, kinetics or mass transfer can be used, coupled or uncoupled, to make visual the history of the growth and to convey complex and highly coupled phenomena to common knowledge. A particular attention will be borne on the actual C/Si ratio, computed on the growth surfaces.The key of success would be the combined use of simulation, experiments and characterization in a "daily interaction". The different presented examples have the aim to show that this approach has the potential of a characterization tool which could be of great importance in the optimization of epitaxial structures used for the fabrication of SiC-based devices.
5:15 PM - B4.3
Lifetime Killer Defect in Undoped 6H-SiC Bulk Crystals Grown by Halide Chemical Vapor Deposition.
Saurav Nigam 1 , Sung Huh 1 , Hun Chung 1 , Alexander Polyakov 1 , Marek Skowronski 1
1 Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States
Show AbstractA deep electron trap located at 1 eV below the conduction band of 6H-SiC has been shown as lifetime limiting defect in thick (> 500 μm) undoped 6H-SiC bulk crystals, grown by halide chemical vapor deposition. A set of samples were grown at 2050 oC with C/Si flow ratio varying from 0.065 to 0.25. All samples were n-type, with electron concentration in 1014 - 1015 cm-3 range. Deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) and minority carrier transient spectroscopy (MCTS) measurements revealed the presence of several electron traps with activation energies of 0.4 eV, 0.65 eV,and 1 eV below the conduction band, and several hole traps with activation energies of 0.4 eV, 0.65 eV,and 0.85 eV above the valence band, in the as grown samples. The concentrations of all electron and hole traps decreased by several times with an increase in C/Si flow ratio from 0.065 to 0.25. Diffusion length measurements performed by electron beam induced current (EBIC) showed an increase in minority carriers diffusion lengths with increasing C/Si flow ratio. After annealing the samples at 1600 oC, the concentration of the 1 eV electron trap increased by approximately an order of magnitude while the concentrations of other electron and hole traps either did not change significantly or slightly decreased. This strong increase in the concentration of the 1 eV electron trap in post annealed samples correlated with approximately three times decrease of the diffusion length, suggesting that the trap in question is a lifetime killer defect.
5:30 PM - B4.4
Effects of Annealing on Deep Centers in HCVD-grown n-type 6H-SiC.
S.W. Huh 1 , H.J. Chung 1 , S. Nigam 1 , A. Polyakov 1 , M. Skowronski 1 , E. Glaser 2 , N. Garces 2 , W. Carlos 2
1 MSE, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, 2 , Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, D.C., District of Columbia, United States
Show AbstractAnnealing experiments were performed on HCVD (Halide Chemical Vapor Deposition)-grown bulk n-type 6H-SiC. The annealing was done at 1600oC for 30 minutes to investigate the stability of deep centers. DLTS (Deep Level Transient Spectroscopy) measurements before and after annealing showed an increase in concentration of the 1.0 eV electron trap by almost one order of magnitude after annealing and a slight decrease in the concentration of 0.65 eV electron trap (Z1/Z2). The concentration of other electron traps did not show any change after annealing. Hole traps in the sample were measured by MCTS (Minority Carrier Transient Spectroscopy) before and after annealing, but there was virtually no change observed in hole traps concentration after annealing.PICTS (Photo-induced Current Transient Spectroscopy) measurements on a high resistive sample also showed the increase in the concentration of the 1.0 eV electron trap after annealing. In agreement with this, the activation energy determined by Temperature-dependent Hall effect measurement on the highly resistive sample changed from 0.65 eV from valence band before annealing to 1.0 eV from conduction band after annealing. LTPL (Low Temperature Photoluminescence) from 0.7-3.1 eV and EPR (Electron Paramagnetic Resonance) at 9 GHz were also performed on the same samples to look for changes in the concentrations of various deep centers (such as the carbon vacancy and the defects responsible for the so-called UD1 and D1 PL bands), after the high temperature anneal. For example, EPR on a highly resistive sample before and after the high temperature anneal showed a marked decrease in the concentration of carbon vacancies, Vc, as observed earlier by others1. Also, the concentration of the defect commonly referred to as SI-5 (in a recent report2, Son et. al., have unambiguously identified this defect as the carbon vacancy-carbon antisite pair defect, VC- CSi, ), was monitored with EPR before and after the anneal. The paramagnetic state of this signal was attained by illumination of the samples at temperatures close to 80 K with near bandedge light from a xenon lamp. We found very little change (within factors of 2) in the total integrated area, i.e., concentration of the SI-5 EPR signal. Possible correlations with the traps observed in the DLTS measurements will also be discussed.The work at NRL was supported by the Office of Naval Research.1 see, for example, D. Alvarez et. al., Journal of Electronic Materials, Vol. 32, No. 5, 2003.2 N.T. Son et. al., 2005 International Conference on Defects in Semiconductors, Materials Science Forum, in press.
B5: Poster Session: SiC Materials Posters
Session Chairs
Wednesday AM, April 19, 2006
Salons 8-15 (Marriott)
9:00 PM - B5.1
The Formation of Smooth, Defect-free, Stoichiometric Silicon Carbide Films from a Polymeric Precursor.
Michael Pitcher 1 , Patricia Bianconi 2
1 Chemistry, METU, Ankara Turkey, 2 Chemistry, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Amherst, Massachusetts, United States
Show AbstractSilicon carbide (SiC) materials, which are used in a variety of applications, are often produced using powder processing, sintering or bulk crystal growing techniques. The formation of silicon carbide films or shaped products, via these methods, is often extremely difficult and/or requires high temperatures. Since the early 1970’s, when Yajima first obtained non-oxide ceramics from the thermal decomposition of polymer precursors, there has been much interest in the polymer precursor route to SiC. The polymeric nature of the ceramic precursors makes the production of fibers, coatings, binders and, especially, films feasible. While many polymer precursors offer some advantages over the conventional solid-state processing of SiC, problems still exist. Some polymers lack the needed degree of processability or require exhaustively difficult syntheses. The low char yields of most precursors lead to excessive shrinkage and cracking in the ceramic products and deterioration of in mechanical properties. The ceramics are often rich in either Si or C, which again may lead to a degradation of the desired properties.Here we report the synthesis and characterization of a polymeric precursor, Polymethylsilyne (PMSy), and it subsequent conversion to β-SiC. The polymer is simple to synthesize and is easily manipulated in air. The ceramic produced from PMSy is extremely pure, stoichiometric SiC and is produced in high yields (up to 85%). The ceramic films that can be produced from PMSy on a variety of substrates, from ceramics to metals, are again stoichiometric SiC and are smooth, continuous and defect free; possibly enabling the use of these films in electronic applications.
9:00 PM - B5.10
Preparation of Al2O3 Thin Films on SiC by Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition.
Tomohiro Hatayama 1 , Shiro Hino 1 , Shiho Hagiwara 1 , Eisuke Tokumitsu 1
1 , Tokyo Institute of Technology, Yokohama Japan
Show AbstractSilicon carbide (SiC) is promising for next generation power device applications because it's outstanding properties such as high breakdown voltage, high electron mobility and thermal conductivity. Although many groups have challenged to develop SiC metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect-transistors (MOSFETs), there is still an obstacle to the practical use. The main problem in SiC MOSFETs is poor interface properties of thermally grown SiO2/SiC, which result in low channel mobility and large on-resistance of SiC MOSFETs. One of the alternative ways to obtain good interface quality is deposition of the gate-insulator films without oxidizing the SiC substrates during the deposition process. To suppress the oxidation of the SiC substrates, low deposition temperature of the gate-insulator films is desirable.In this work, we have deposited Al2O3 gate insulator on 4H-SiC (0001) and HF-etched Si (100) by metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). We chose Al2O3 as a gate-insulator material, because Al precursors used in MOCVD easily react with oxidants, which enables us to deposit Al2O3 films with low-defect density even at low temperatures. In addition, a large conduction band discontinuity (ΔEC) is expected for Al2O3/SiC. In this work, Al2O3 films were deposited by source-gas-pulse-introduced MOCVD using Al(C2H5)3 (TEA) and H2O. The deposition temperature is 190 oC to suppress the oxidation of the SiC substrates. The top electrodes of the MOS capacitors were fabricated by vacuum evaporation of Al through a shadow mask. Ni was used for the backside electrodes, which was sintered at 850 oC for 3 min in N2 ambient, before the deposition of Al2O3 films on SiC. Al2O3 thickness was between 15 and 20 nm.We evaluated the capacitance-voltage (C-V) and leak current density versus electric field (J-E) characteristics of the Al2O3/SiC MOS capacitors and calculated interface state density (Dit) with high-low C-V measurement. The C-V curve of the Al2O3/SiC exhibits typical MOS characteristics. However, we have observed large flat-band shift of about 7V for the Al2O3 deposited at 190 oC, which is presumably due to the fixed charge at the interface. The breakdown electric field of Al2O3 was around 7MV/cm and the leakage current density is in the order of 10-8 A/cm2, which is much smaller than the HfO2 films deposited at the same temperature. It is worth noting that the Dit of the Al2O3/SiC was estimated to be 1012 eV-1cm-2, which is lower than that of the thermally grown SiO2/SiC.
9:00 PM - B5.11
High-Resolution X-ray Topography of Dislocations in 4H-SiC Epilayers
Isaho Kamata 1 , Hidekazu Tsuchida 1 , William Vetter 2 , Michael Dudley 2
1 , Central research institute of electric power industry, Yokosuka, Kanagawa, Japan, 2 , State university of New York, Stony Brook, New York, United States
Show AbstractSilicon carbide (SiC) substrates and epilayers contain many crystal defects, such as micropipes, screw dislocations, threading edge dislocations (TEDs), basal plane dislocations (BPDs) and stacking faults. To investigate these defects, synchrotron radiation topography is frequently carried out. When the monochromatic synchrotron X-ray topography is taken by the grazing-incidence reflection geometry using 11-28 reflection, screw dislocations, TEDs and BPDs are simultaneously seen and shown as different topographic images [1]. Many studies of dislocations were reported using 11-28 reflections in 4H-SiC [1,2]. Topographic images of the dislocations have been analyzed by the ray-tracing method of computer simulation [3]. However, experimental images of dislocations were not fully matched to the fine structure of simulation images, because of a lack of resolution in recording media: conventional films and nuclear emulsion plates [3]. This time, we report obtaining high-resolution topographic images using a new recording medium, and compare results between the experiment and the computer simulation. Synchrotron topography in 11-28 reflection was carried out at SPring8 applying holography films as high-resolution recording media. The TED images are distinguished as four types, which have ribbon-like features with different rotating angles, through the use of the films. The four different TED images agree well with the computer simulated images which have been reported by Vetter et.al. taking into account of the different Burgers vector directions [3]. By comparing the three topographic images taken at g=-12-18, 11-28 and 2-1-18, we confirmed experimentally that the four types of TED images originated from the difference of Burgers vector directions. We also investigated high-resolution topographic images of elementary screw dislocations, micropipes, and BPDs in 4H-SiC epilayers. The experimental image of screw dislocation fairly matched with simulated image. The fine features in the experimental topographic images of micropipes and BPDs are also compared with the simulated images in detail. [1] T. Ohno, H. Yamaguchi, S. Kuroda, K. Kojima, T. Suzuki, K. Arai: J. cryst. Growth. Vol. 260 (2004) 209. [2] H. Tsuchida, T. Miyanagi, I. Kamata, T. Nakamura, R. Ishii, K. Nakayama and Y.Sugawara: Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. Vol. 25, (2005), L806-808. [3] W. Vetter, H. Tsuchida, I. Kamata, M. Dudley: J. Appl. Cryst. Vol. 38, (2005), 442-447.
9:00 PM - B5.12
Perchlorosilanes and Perchlorocarbosilanes as Precursors to Silicon Carbide.
Roman Pavelko 1 , Vladimir Sevastyanov 1 , Yurij Ezhov 1 , Nikolaj Kuznetsov 1
1 , Kurnakov Institute of General and Inorganic Chemistryof Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow Russian Federation
Show Abstract9:00 PM - B5.13
Measurement of the Electon-hole Pair Ionization Energy in a 4H SiC Betavoltaic cell.
MVS Chandrashekhar 1 , Christopher Thomas 1 , Michael Spencer 1
1 Electrical Computer Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, United States
Show AbstractRecent measurements of current generation in 4H SiC betavoltaic cells have shown anomalously high numbers, using the 4H SiC electron hole pair ionization energy value Ee-h=8.4eV commonly used in the literature in conjunction with radiation detectors and betavoltaic cells. These betavoltaic cell measurements will be discussed.A measurement of the mean e-h pair creation energy Ee-h in 4H SiC using a scanning electron microscope (SEM) will then be presented. Uncertainties stemming from backscattering from high Z metal contacts, as well as from the semiconductor surface are removed by explicit measurement through direct electron bombardment of the bare semiconductor surface. A reduced value of Ee-h =5.05 eV for 4H SiC is reported, which is significantly lower than previously reported values. Good correspondence with Monte Carlo simulations of impact ionization in 4H SiC was obtained.In light of this reduced value for the ionization energy of 4H SiC, the measured betavoltaic cell current values find a natural explanation.
9:00 PM - B5.14
Effects of Hydrogen on the Physical Vapor Transport Growth and Properties of Nitrogen Doped 4H SiC
Mark Fanton 1 , Alexander Polyakov 2 , Sung Wook Huh 2 , Marek Skowronski 2 , Randal Cavalero 1 , Rodney Ray 1
1 Electro-Optics Center, Penn State University, Freeport, Pennsylvania, United States, 2 Materials Science & Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States
Show AbstractThe effects of hydrogen addition to the growth ambient during physical vapor transport (PVT) growth of nitrogen doped 4H SiC is presented. With the addition of hydrogen, the total vapor pressure of carbon species within the growth cell is significantly increased due to formation of hydrocarbons and due to more congruent evaporation of the SiC source material. Using this hydrogen assisted PVT (HPVT) process for growth of semi-insulating material results in a marked decrease in nitrogen incorporation efficiency and significant suppression of deep traps. However, nitrogen doped 4H SiC can still be produced by supplying the correct partial pressure of N2 during growth. The resulting material can be doped to N concentrations as high as 1e19 atoms/cm3, but still shows a significant decrease in the concentration of deep traps. In particular, the concentration of the Z1/Z2 defect is reduced by about an order of magnitude with as little as 10% hydrogen added to the growth ambient. Correlation between the presence of this defect and carrier lifetimes for lightly doped material will be presented. In addition, the effects of annealing at temperatures up to 2000°C on the concentration of hydrogen in the crystal and the electrical properties of nitrogen doped 4H SiC grown by HPVT will be discussed.
9:00 PM - B5.15
Deep Traps Spectra in n-type and p-type 4H-SiC Films Grown by Chlorosilane Epitaxy.
S.W. Huh 1 , S. Nigam 1 , A. Polyakov 1 , M. Skowronski 1 , G. Chung 2 , M. MacMillan 2 , J. Wan 2 , M. Laboda 2
1 MSE, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, 2 , Dow Corning Compound Semiconductor Solutions, Midland, Michigan, United States
Show Abstract4H-SiC homoepitaxial layers with good surface morphology and high crystalline quality lightly doped to n-type (uncompensated donor concentration lower than 1015 cm-3) and to p-type (Al doping, hole concentration at room temperature lower than 1015 cm-3) were grown with chlorosilane silicon precursor in a wide range of C/Si ratios. Deep electron and hole traps spectra in n-type and p-type layers were determined by deep levels transient spectroscopy (DLTS) and minority carriers traps spectroscopy (MCTS, this is a DLTS version with optical pulse injection; in our case optical injection was provided by a high-power AlGaN/GaN light emitting diode). Six major electron traps with activation energies of 0.14 eV, 0.25 eV, 0.65 eV, 1.1 eV, 1.3 eV, and 1.5 eV and four hole traps with activation energy of 0.4 eV, 0.65 eV, 0.85 eV, 1.5 eV were detected in all films. The concentration of all major traps was as low as in good quality 4H-SiC structures grown by standard silane epitaxy and the concentration of traps tended to decrease with increasing C/Si ratio. Some of the detected traps were similar to the ones previously reported for samples grown by silane epitaxy. For example, the 0.65 eV electron traps are the famous Z1/Z2 traps as confirmed by their clear-cut negative-U behavior, the 1.5 eV electron traps are the well known EH6/EH7 traps, the 0.65 eV hole traps are the B-related D-centers. At the same time, electron traps with activation energies of 0.25 eV, 1.3 eV observed in chlorosilane epitaxy are not observed on a regular basis in standard silane epitaxy. Possible nature of these additional traps will be discussed. We will also present the results on studies of distribution of recombination-active defects and of minority carriers diffusion length/lifetime measurements in chlorosilane-grown epilayers.
9:00 PM - B5.17
Toward Particulate-Free Thin Films of SiC and TiC by Plasma Discharge Assisted Pulsed Laser Deposition.
Robert Combs 1 , Xiaodong Zhang 1 , Brent Koplitz 1
1 Chemistry, Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana, United States
Show AbstractThe thin film characterization and plasma diagnostics of laser ablated plumes of SiC and TiC using both femtosecond (exp-15 s, fs) and nanosecond (exp-9 s, ns) laser pulse durations are investigated. The purpose of this work is to determine the role of the laser pulse interaction with the ablated vapor, as this serves as an important factor in the deposition of particulate-free films. Since the vaporization event takes place in the picosecond (exp-12 s) timescale, the ns pulses heat the expanding vapor through the duration of the pulse, whereas the high energy fs pulses are completed before any interaction with the vapor is possible. Thus, it is necessary to determine whether continued heating of the plasma is critical for a more complete vaporization or if an initial high energy interaction is more important. From film analysis, it is clear that the interactions are very different with respect to the thickness of the films and size distribution of deposited particulates. The general trend indicates that fs pulses produce a high number of particulates ca. 1 µm average diameter, with the majority of the film comprised of particles < 200 nm. However, in the case of the ns films, there were much fewer 1 µm particles and the major film components were << 200 nm. Therefore, the longer pulses heat the plasma during the expansion and enhance film quality. By incorporating high repetition rates, the ablation plume has a number density capable of facilitating a discharge at high electric field strength (1500 V/cm) between two parallel plates. This provides enough energy to digest most of the particulates to be deposited. Without electric fields, the observed trend is an increase in particulates deposited due to the increase of ablated material. At sufficiently high field strength, the reverse is observed, the number of particulates decreases as laser repetition rate is increased. The films vary in thickness according to measurement relative to the ablation cone. For example, using fs pulses (0.5 mJ/pulse, 1 kHz), film thickness measurements provide a minimum of 84 nm (3 cm from ablation axis) and a maximum of 286 nm (0.5 cm from ablation axis). However, with electric fields present, the minimum thickness was 58 nm and a maximum thickness of 101 nm. Therefore, a more uniform film was deposited by creating a discharge across the plume.Plasma characterization was performed with quadrupole mass spectrometry and with ion probes. Mass spectra were acquired along the ablation axis. Charge accumulation measurements were made with a cylindrical (0.25 mm diameter, 1 cm long) probe oriented 5 cm from the ablation source. These studies lend themselves to the production of particulate-free thin films of hard materials for use in tribological applications.
9:00 PM - B5.18
Passivation of Dangling Bonds at Hexagonal SiC Surfaces.
Gary Pennington 1 , C Ashman 2 , N Goldsman 1 , P Lenahan 3 , A Lelis 4
1 , University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, United States, 2 , HPTi, Reston, Virginia, United States, 3 , Penn State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, United States, 4 , Army Research Lab, Adelphi, Maryland, United States
Show Abstract9:00 PM - B5.19
Halide Chemical Vapor Deposition of Thick AlN Films on SiC.
Timothy Bogart 1 , Mark Fanton 1 , Xiaojun Weng 2 , Ed Oslosky 1 , Brian Weiland 1 , Rodney Ray 1 , Adam Dilts 1 , David Snyder 1
1 , Penn State Electro-Optics Center, Freeport, Pennsylvania, United States, 2 Materials Science & Engineering, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, United States
Show AbstractAluminum nitride films up to 240 μm thick were grown on SiC substrates by a novel halide chemical vapor deposition (HCVD) process. Growth took place in a vertical hot wall impinging jet reactor by flowing a mixture of AlCl3 and NH3 diluted in N2 over the substrate at temperatures between 1100°C and 1500°C and pressures between 25 Torr and 400 Torr. Growth temperatures are significantly higher than those used in typical HVPE growth of AlN, yet well below the temperatures used for sublimation growth. The increased growth temperature allows CVD growth rates to be significantly increased. Growth rates as high as 120 μm/hr have been obtained for epitaxial growth of AlN on both sapphire and SiC substrates compared to 3 to 60 μm/hr for typical HVPE growth rates suggesting that this process may provide an alternate route for bulk growth of AlN single crystals. In addition, the use of very high purity Al and N source materials has the potential to significantly reduce the oxygen concentration in the resulting AlN compared to sublimation grown crystals. Growth of 40μm to 200μm thick AlN films on SiC substrates with orientations of (0001), (11-20), and (-1100) were compared with respect to crystal quality and oxygen contamination, and dislocation density. Particular attention was given to the AlN-SiC interface since it may be possible to use single crystal SiC as a seed material for bulk growth of AlN. The comparison includes x-ray rocking curve analyses, SIMS, and TEM looking at both oxygen concentrations at the interface by cross sectional TEM with EDAX and dislocation densities by plane view TEM.
9:00 PM - B5.2
Surface Dynamics in Alloys Growth: Simulation of the Effect of Multi-species Deposition on Unstable Vicinal Surfaces.
Ajmi BHadj-Hamouda 1 , Alberto Pimpinelli 1 , Florin Nita 2 3
1 LASMEA, Universite Blaise Pasca l, 6602 du CNRS, 63177, AUBIERE France, 2 Institute of physical chemistry, IG Murgulescu" of Romanian Academy, Spl. Independentei 202, Bucharest Romania, 3 Dipartimento di Fisica, INFM and IMEM/CNR, Via Dodecaneso 33, Genova, I1614 Italy
Show Abstract9:00 PM - B5.20
Characterization of SiC Materials and Devices by SIMS
Yupu Li 1 , Yumin Gao 1
1 , Applied Microanalysis Labs, Santa Clara, California, United States
Show Abstract Based on the various implanted standards, we have used SIMS (Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry) to characterize SiC materials and devices. We have developed the SIMS analysis on 2'' full SiC wafers using our customized sample load chamber at a Cameca 4f magnetic sector SIMS tool. We have also developed special mounting skills and provide SIMS analyses on small patterned areas (say 60 microns x 60 microns or larger) of the tiny or large SiC dies. The detailed comparison between the implanted profiles measured by SIMS and the simulated profiles by SRIM code [1] for the major dopants will be discussed. The detection limits for selected elements will also be discussed. In addition, in the various materials, nitrogen is normally profiled with a Cs+ primary beam and monitored negative molecular ions of (matrix+N)- [such as (Al+N)- in Al [2], (Si+N)- in Si, and (C+N)- in SiC]. However, such negative molecular ion detection mode cannot be applied to the multi-layers with different matrix elements. We have developed a new technique for a better detection of nitrogen in the multi-layer samples such as Cu/SiC or Al/SiC samples. We report that nitrogen in the multi-layer samples including SiC layer can be profiled by the (Cs2N)+ detection model [3,4] at very low profiling energy (such as 2keV) for better depth resolution. Reference:[1] J.F. Ziegler, J.P. Biersack, and U. Littmark, The Stopping and Ranges of Ions in Solids (Pergamon, New York, 1985).[2]. C. Lin, Yupu Li, R.J. Chater, J. Li, A. Nejim, J.P. Zhang, and P.L. Hemment, Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B80/81 (1993) 323. [3]. Yupu Li, Applied Surface Sciences, 231-232 (2004) 796.[4]. Yumin Gao, Surface And Interface Analysis, 14 (1989) 552.
9:00 PM - B5.21
Defects in 4H-SiC MOSFETs: Processing Dependent Defect Densities
Morgen Dautrich 1 , Patrick Lenahan 1 , Aivars Lelis 2
1 , Penn State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, United States, 2 , Army Research Labs, Adelphi, Maryland, United States
Show AbstractA major problem faced in SiC metal oxide semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) technology is the existence of interface trap defects at the SiC/gate oxide interface. The large concentration of interface trap defects leads to shifts in threshold voltage and low channel mobility. Until recently, virtually nothing was known with certainty about the atomic scale structure of the defects responsible for these interface traps. Electron spin resonance (ESR) has been widely utilized to study electrically active defects in electronic materials. The electrically detected ESR technique called spin dependent recombination allows ESR measurements to e made in fully processed semiconductor devices, as it is many orders of magnitude more sensitive than conventional ESR, and is exceptionally well suited to characterize interface defects in fully-processed semiconductor devices.In several earlier studies, we have reported on SDR studies of both 4H and 6H-SiC MOSFETs with both thermally grown and deposited oxides. In those studies, we identified an intrinsic dangling bond defect as well as a likely near-interface vacancy center. Also, we noted that the studied 4H-SiC MOSFETs with thermal gate oxides contain a concentration of vacancy-like centers at the SiC/SiO2 interface, which extend significantly into the SiC bulk. In this study, we report on SDR measurements of variously processed thermal oxide 4H- SiC MOSFETs fabricated by Cree Inc. We find very large differences in SDR defect spectra as a function of processing variations. Comparisons of SDR measurements and conventional MOS electronic measurements of interface trap density clearly indicates a strong correlation between the SDR amplitudes and interface trap densities. Our studies have primarily involved the effects of various post-oxidation nitridation anneals. Versus samples with no nitridatin, we observe a large (order of magnitude) decrease in both SDR amplitude and interface trap densities with the introduction of various nitridation anneals. We also observe smaller differences in SDR amplitude and interface traps as a function of nitridation anneal parameters. We believe that these results strongly support the idea that the defects observed via SDR are primarily responsible for the interface trap density in technologically relevant 4H-SiC MOSFET technology.
9:00 PM - B5.22
Dislocation-Related Etch Protrusions Formed On 4H-Sic (000-1) Surface By Molten KOH Etching.
Masahide Gotoh 1 , Takeshi Tawara 1 , Shun-ichi Nakamura 1 , Tae Tamori 1 , Yoshiyuki Kuboki 1 , Yoshiyuki Yonezawa 1 , Masaharu Nishiura 1
1 , Fuji Electric Advanced Technology Co., Ltd., Matsumoto, Nagano, Japan
Show Abstract4H-SiC MOS devices using (000-1) surface are attractive owing to high channel mobility and oxidation speed. In failure analysis of SiC devices fabricated on a (000-1) face, we need a convenient method to reveal dislocations. Although molten KOH etching has been widely employed to investigate threading dislocations intersecting (0001)-vicinal faces [1][2], there are few reports about (000-1)-vicinal faces. In this study, we investigated surface defects on (000-1) surface formed by KOH etching, using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (TEM). For preparation of TEM specimens, focused ion beam (FIB) technique was employed.4H-SiC (000-1) wafers with 8 degrees off-axis toward [11-20] direction were etched in molten KOH at 500 degrees Centigrade for 2 to 10 minutes. The shapes of typical surface defects were analyzed with SEM. We found the surface defects formed on the (000-1) face are protrusions in contrast to well-known dimples on (0001). Formation of etch protrusions is known in electroless etching of compound semiconductors like GaAs and GaN [3].Some of the etch protrusions were cut off parallel to the (1-100) plane by FIB, and observed along either [1-100] or [-1100] direction with TEM. There are various shapes of the protrusions on the (000-1) surface and some of them include dislocations extending from the top.[1] S. Ha, W. M. Vetter, M. Dudley and M. Skowronski, Mater. Sci. Forum 389-393, 443 (2002)[2] J. L. Weyher, S. Lazar, J. Borysiuk and J. Pernot, Phys. Stat. Sol. A 202, 578 (2005)[3] J. L. Weyher, Defect-selective etching of III-V and wide gap semiconductors, 1st CEPHONA Workshop on Microscopic Characterization of Materials and Structure for Photonics (2003)
9:00 PM - B5.23
PECVD A-Sic:H Encapsulation For Chronically Implanted Neural Recording Devices.
Jui-Mei Hsu 2 , Prashant Tathireddy 1 , Loren Rieth 2 1 , Sascha Kammer 3 , Klaus Peter Koch 3 , A. Richard Normann 4 , Florian Solzbacher 1 2 4
2 Department of Material Science and Engineering, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States, 1 Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States, 3 Department of Medical Technology and Neuroprosthetics, Fraunhofer Institute for Biomedical Engineering, St. Ingbert Germany, 4 Department of Bioengineering, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States
Show AbstractFully integrated neural recording devices for chronic implants require a stable biocompatible encapsulation layer at the interface between the recording device and the brain neural tissue to maintain long term recording characteristics. Amorphous silicon carbide (a-SiC:H) was investigated as an insulating, hermetic, and biocompatible encapsulation for such devices. We focused on low temperature deposition process to avoid degrading the integrated device during the encapsulation process.A plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) system was used to deposit a-SiC:H films. The deposition conditions included a pressure of 0.4Torr and substrate temperature 150-275C. SiH4 and CH4 were the precursor gases diluted in hydrogen during deposition. The dilution ratio (precursor/total gas) ranged from 6 to 65%. Deposited-film properties were investigated by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), ellipsometry, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), dissolution, and adhesion tests. AC (impedance spectroscopy) and DC electrical measurements were used to evaluate film degradation, delamination, and dissolution.Films of thickness 0.3–0.8μm were deposited on oxidized silicon and quartz substrates containing Ti/Pt (50/330nm) interdigitated electrodes. These test chips were placed in Ringer’s solution (NaCl 6gm, KCl 0.075gm, CaCl2 0.1gm, NaHCO3 0.1gm in 1L DI water) at 37C for impedance spectroscopy and leakage current tests. Silicon substrates deposited with a-SiC:H films were placed in phosphate buffered saline solution at 90C for dissolution tests. As observed by ellipsometry, there was no dissolution of SiC films in four weeks. However, when films had poor adhesion or pinholes, etching of silicon substrate was observed. The etching of silicon in preferential etching planes generates square defects that are proportional to the etching time during dissolution test. The thickness of films increased up to 20% during dissolution tests. The lower refractive index of the surface layer compared to that of bulk a-SiC:H suggests surface oxidation during the dissolution test. Analysis of TEM/EDX cross sections was performed to measure the atomic composition and porosity of these a-SiC:H layers.Our study also suggests that a higher hydrogen dilution ratio and silane starving (17% silane in precursor) deposition condition can deposit films of higher silicon-carbon bonding density as measured by FTIR and higher refractive index measured by ellipsometry. Films deposited at lower temperatures exhibit lower refractive index, lower silicon-carbon bonding density, and higher defect density. Higher silicon-carbon bonding density films have higher stress, which may lead to micro cracks. Within the range of deposition conditions investigated, it was found that about 36% hydrogen dilution and 200C during deposition produce the best a-SiC:H films for good encapsulation of chronically implanted devices.
9:00 PM - B5.24
The Formation Mechanism of Carrot Defects in SiC Epifilms.
Xiaoting Jia 1 , Juan Zhou 1 , Jie Bai 1 , Michael Dudley 1
1 Materials Science & Engineering, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York, United States
Show AbstractAs a very promising semiconductor material, SiC has attracted extensive research attention. The influence of the structural defects on the optical or electrical performances of SiC is widely studied. A carrot defect is a morphological defect existing at the surface of SiC epifilms which is suspected to degrade device performance. Currently the studies of carrot defects concentrate on the identification of their structures. The driving force and formation mechanism of this defect has never been reported. In this paper, carrot defects formed in the homo-epilayer grown on 80 off-cut 4H-SiC substrate are characterized and studied. The defects are initially identified with optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Synchrotron White Beam X-ray Topography (SWBXT) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) are carried out to determine the crystalline structure of these defects. The formation mechanism of carrot defects will be discussed and strategies for epitaxial growth to avoid them will be suggested.
9:00 PM - B5.25
Seedless Coalescence of Pendeo-epitaxial 3C SiC grown on High Aspect Ratio Micromachined Si Posts.
MVS Chandrashekhar 1 , Christopher Thomas 1 , Brian Noel 2 , Michael Spencer 1
1 Electrical Computer Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, United States, 2 Electrical Computer Engineering, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia, United States
Show AbstractIt is desirable to grow SiC on Si for cost reasons. However, due to the significant lattice mismatch between the 2 materials, the grown material is highly defective, as the strain is relieved through dislocations. Pendeo-epitaxial techniques have proven to be somewhat effective in improving the quality of the material, but rely on patterning a previously grown 3C-SiC seed layer. This patterned wafer is then regrown to produce the pendeo-epitaxial material.In this work, we investigate the possibility of using a pre-patterned Si-wafer, without the use of a seed SiC layer. This eliminates one of the growth stages, greatly simplifying the process and reducing cost. Furthermore, the high aspect ratio of the Si pillars provides that some of the strain from the lattice mismatch may be relieved through Si-post buckle rather than through dislocations in the 3C SiC. These posts also provide a facile-release layer for the 3C SiC for MEMS applications owing to their high surface area.A square array of Si posts 1 um wide and 7 um deep at a period of 2 um were fabricated using photolithography and the Bosch etch process. This etch ensured the slight undercut required for effective coalescence of the grown layer. CVD growth of 3C SiC was then carried out in a vertical cold wall style reactor using a hydrogen-silane-propane chemistry. A buffer layer was formed in the usual manner and the layer grown at a nominal growth rate of 3 um/hr. Growths of various times were performed. The growth was not optimized.The grown material was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and was determined to be poly-crystalline 3C-SiC, although there was some preferred orientation to the substrate orientation. It is believed that through effective optimization of the growth, single crystal 3C SiC can be obtained.It was observed that after 1 hour of growth, coalescence of the grown layer took place. This will be demonstrated through a scanning electron microscopy (SEM) investigation. Deposition on the sidewalls was observed, but was cut-off as the grown layer coalesced. In addition, due to the close proximity of the posts to one another, the coalesced layer was rather flat (~80nm RMS roughness determined by AFM), despite the lack of a seed layer. It is possible to effectively wafer-bond such a surface through the use of a glue-layer such as spin-on glass.In summary, a seed-free method for producing a continuous 3C SiC layer on pre-pattened Si was demonstrated. The grown SiC layer showed a RMS roughness of ~80nm after 1 hour of growth.
9:00 PM - B5.26
Crystal face and C/Si ratio Dependence of Phosphorus Doping by SiC Epitaxial Growth.
Takeshi Tawara 1 , Yuko Ueki 1 , Shun-ichi Nakamura 1 , Masahide Gotoh 1 , Yoshiyuki Yonezawa 1 , Masaharu Nishiura 1
1 , Fujielectric Advanced Technology Co., Nagano Japan
Show Abstract9:00 PM - B5.27
Growth and Mechanism in Halide Chemical Vapor Deposition of Silicon Carbide.
Yi Chen 1 , Govindhan Dhanaraj 1 , Hui Chen 1 , Hui Zhang 2 , Michael Dudley 1
1 Materials Science and Engineering, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York, United States, 2 Mechanical Engineering, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York, United States
Show AbstractSilicon carbide (SiC) is an important semiconductor that has a large bandgap and other excellent properties such as a large thermal conductivity, high breakdown voltage, and outstanding mechanical and chemical stability. Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is the mainly used technique for the growth of silicon carbide epitaxial layer and even used for obtaining boules of several mm thickness. Using halogenated precursors such as silicon tetrachloride is a better option to solve inlet blocking in silane precursor system due to the relatively lower decomposition temperature of silane. Therefore, using silicon tetrachloride-propane epitaxial growth can be prolonged to obtain substantially thicker films. Thermodynamic process of CVD using silicon tetrachloride and propane is discussed assuming that the growth proceeds at equilibrium conditions. Different concentrations of dominant gas species are present at different temperatures, pressure and precursor gas ratios. Predicted growth rate using this model is dependent on temperature, pressure, precursor gas flow and also the carrier gas flow rate. Comparison between our predicted data and our experimental values will be discussed. The results provide feedback and controlled growth can be achieved easily. Detailed information about the model and growth is going to be presented.
9:00 PM - B5.28
Development of PECVD SiC for MEMS Using 3MS as the Precursor
Jiangang Du 1 , Neha Singh 1 , Christian Zorman 1
1 Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, United States
Show AbstractSiC is an attractive material for MEMS applications due to its outstanding mechanical, chemical and electrical properties. The preponderance of work in the development of SiC MEMS has focused on SiC thin films deposited by APCVD and LPCVD at high substrate temperatures (800C to 1350C). Recently, however, interest in fabricating SiC-based devices on temperature-sensitive substrates has motivated the development of PECVD-based processes for hydrogen-terminated, amorphous SiC (a-SiC:H) with properties suitable for MEMS. The PECVD approach has permitted the lowering of substrate temperatures to below 400C, thus enabling the incorporation of buried metal electrode structures, the use of non-conventional sacrificial layers (i.e., polyimide) and furthering the development of SiC micromechanical structures with on-chip Si microelectronics. This paper reports our effort to develop a PECVD process for a-SiC:H films specifically designed for MEMS applications using trimethylsilane (3MS) as the precursor. Trimethylsilane is an attractive precursor since it is currently being used in advanced Si microelectronics to produce low-k dielectric, diffusion barrier SiC thin films. In our work, SiC films were deposited in a GSI Ultradep PECVD system using Dow Corning Z3MS metalorganic precursor diluted in He. Films were deposited to thicknesses between 100 nm and 2 μm at a substrate temperature of 350C. The deposition pressure, 3MS/He flow rate, and electrode power were varied to explore the effect of processing parameters on the residual stress and chemical durability of the films. In all cases, the as-deposited films exhibited compressive residual stresses as determined using the wafer curvature measurement technique. Films with residual stresses below -100MPa would, upon a short 10 min anneal at 450C, exhibit modest tensile stresses (<100MPa), which in some cases could be reduced to nearly zero. 100 nm-thick films annealed at 1100C retained their insulating properties, suggesting that any unintentional dopants are not activated upon high temperature exposure. Chemical resistance to acids and bases commonly used in Si micromachining as well as the mechanical stability of the films exhibiting moderate tensile stresses were evaluated using bulk micromachined membranes and surface micromachined structures. Free-standing, 2 μm-thick, membranes with a nominal surface area of 1 x 1 mm2 and fabricated by Si anisotropic etching in a KOH/H2O solution at 55C could be pressurized to about 100 PSI without breakage or delamination. Cantilever beams and bridges surface micromachined using a SF6/CHF3-based plasma to pattern the films and an HNA-based isotropic Si etch to release the structures could be fabricated and used to confirm the residual stress data. The extended paper will detail the recipe development and film characterization efforts as well as the use of these films as mechanical membranes in SiC-based micromachined pressure sensors and fluidic filters.
9:00 PM - B5.29
Microwave Photoconductivity Decay Mapping and Investigation of Lifetimes in 4H-SiC Epitaxial Layers
Joshua Caldwell 1 , Aron Pap 2 , Amitesh Shrivastava 3 , Zehong Zhang 3 , Paul Klein 1 , Tibor Pavelka 2 , Tangali Sudarshan 3 , Orest Glembocki 1 , Karl Hobart 1 , Fritz Kub 1
1 Power Electronics, Naval Research Lab, Washington , District of Columbia, United States, 2 Semiconductor Physics Laboratory, Semilab Inc., Budapest Hungary, 3 Electrical Engineering Dept., University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, United States
Show AbstractIn order to capitalize on the superior material properties of SiC, high quality epitaxial layers with long minority carrier lifetimes are required. One technique to investigate lifetime is microwave photoconductivity decay (μ-PCD) that measures both the non-radiative and radiative recombination mechanisms. In this work, two dimensional maps of the carrier lifetime created via μ-PCD were obtained for four 4H-SiC epitaxial layers varying in thickness from 15 to 160 μm. The measurements were performed using the 355nm pulsed laser line of a 3X Nd:YAG incorporated into a WT-2000 lifetime scanner created by Semilab Inc. The wide band gap of SiC requires λ≤384nm, thus lifetime measurements are difficult as the penetration depth of the laser is limited (~48 μm at 355 nm). Furthermore, the growth of epilayers upon highly conductive substrates allows for the creation of a ground plane for the microwaves when measuring thin epilayers, thereby making baseline conductivity measurements extremely difficult. The ability to acquire full maps using μ-PCD has to this point been unsuccessful and the majority of measurements reported utilized wavelengths in the 266 nm range, where the penetration depth limits the measurement to the surface dominated regime. Measurement of thin (<30μm) epilayers require improvements in sensitivity, which is accomplished using the epitest antenna attachment that comes in contact with the surface of the epilayer. The measurements on the 100 and 160μm thick epilayers found relatively homogeneous lifetimes in the 700ns range across the majority of the sample, with significant drops at the edges. However, various anomalies in the lifetime maps were observed with long thin lines as well as small points of lifetime reduction present. The cause for these anomalies is currently unknown. In comparison, the measurements on the 15 and 35μm thick epilayers yielded lifetimes of 1.5 and 2.1μs. These longer lifetimes in comparison to the thicker samples is quite surprising, however, an exponential decrease in the lifetime of 5-15% was observed when the sample was illuminated continuously with white light during the measurement. Such decreases were not observed in the thick epilayers. This decrease appears to be due to a saturation of one or more effective recombination traps found in the middle of the band gap. It is possible that the white light is photo-ionizating the Z1/Z21 and/or the EH6/72 defects prevalent in SiC that have been determined to effectively influence the carrier lifetimes. 1 P. B. Klein, B. V. Shanabrook, S. W. Huh, et al., Applied Physics Letters Submitted (2005).2 N. T. Son, E. Sorman, W. M. Chen, et al., in Int. Symp. Compound. Semicond. (IOP Publishing Ltd., San Diego, CA, 1994), Vol. 141: Chapter 4, p. 405.
9:00 PM - B5.3
Surface Cleaning and Etching of 4H-SiC(0001) using Atmospheric Pressure Hydrogen Plasma.
Heiji Watanabe 1 , Shigenari Okada 1 , Hiromasa Ohmi 1 , Hiroaki Kakiuchi 1 , Kiyoshi Yasutake 1
1 Department of Precision Science and Technology, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka, Japan
Show AbstractSilicon carbide (SiC) is a promising candidate material for high-power, high-frequency, and high-temperature electronic devices. An essential step in fabricating such devices is the preparation of atomically flat and clean SiC surfaces. However, achieving an ideal SiC surface is difficult due to the mechanical hardness and chemical inertness of SiC. Hydrogen annealing is widely used for cleaning SiC surfaces, but the procedure requires high temperatures over 1400C. In addition, a low-damage, high-rate method for etching SiC surfaces has not been established yet. In this study, we used atmospheric pressure (AP) hydrogen plasma for cleaning and etching 4H-SiC(0001) surfaces. The AP plasma was generated using a very high frequency (VHF) 150-MHz power supply and a gas mixture containing hydrogen and helium. Localized AP plasma in a typical 0.3-0.6 mm gap between the electrode and substrate can supply high-density hydrogen radials and prevent ion-induced damage to the SiC surface. Surface treatment of wet-etched 4H-SiC(0001) was conducted at room temperature. The residual fluorine atoms originating from the HF solution were removed and the scratches on the as-received SiC substrates had disappeared completely after the AP hydrogen plasma treatment. Surface characterization using the low energy electron diffraction (LEED) technique also revealed that the damaged layers on the SiC surfaces, which were introduced by the slicing and polishing processes, were effectively removed using the AP hydrogen plasma treatment even at room temperature. We used a cylindrical rotary electrode to supply high VHF power to the AP plasma and obtained a high etching rate over 1000 nm/min. Moreover, we developed a porous carbon electrode for cleaning the surface of SiC wafers. The porous electrode can be used to treat the whole wafer and we obtained a moderate etching rate of around 100 nm/min. These results demonstrated the effectiveness of using our AP hydrogen plasma treatment for etching as-received polished SiC wafers and cleaning epitaxial SiC surfaces.
9:00 PM - B5.5
Spectral Characterization of Persistent Photo Conductance in SiC.
Steven Smith 2 1 , Andrew Evwaraye 2 , William Mitchel 2
2 Materials Directorate, Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, United States, 1 , University of Dayton Research Institute, Dayton, Ohio, United States
Show AbstractThe transient photo response of 4H- and 6H-SiC specimens at various wavelengths has been studied using Optical Admittance Spectroscopy. Differences in the transient response were found for excitation and recombination for different specimens in both materials. The results indicate that optical excitation of charge carriers to the conduction band is a single transition, but recombination of free carriers from the conduction band is a process involving multiple transitions to the ground state mediated by deep centers in the material. Similarities in the persistent photoconductance after excitation from deep centers, and after excitation at above bandgap energies, suggest that carriers from the conduction band drop through deep centers on the way to the valence band.
9:00 PM - B5.6
Electrical Measurement of the Vanadium Acceptor Level in 4H- and 6H-SiC.
William Mitchel 1 , William Mitchell 1 , H. Smith 1 , G. Landis 1 , Mary Zvanut 2 , Wonwoo Lee 2
1 Materials and Manufacturing Directorate, Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, United States, 2 Physics Department, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, United States
Show AbstractTransition metal doping is a common method for producing the high resistivity in semi-insulating (s.i.) semiconductors and vanadium doping is presently being used to make s.i. SiC. The vanadium deep levels compensate residual nitrogen and boron impurities and pin the Fermi level at the deep level. Since vanadium is amphoteric in SiC, either its donor level, V4+/5+, or its acceptor level, V3+/4+, can pin the Fermi level depending on the relative concentration of the shallow donors and acceptors. The donor level is widely accepted to be located around EC – 1.5 eV in both 6H and 4H SiC. However, there are conflicting reports on the location of the acceptor level. Temperature dependent Hall effect (TDH) and resistivity measurements, and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) studies have been performed on both 6H and 4H vanadium doped semi-insulating SiC samples grown by the physical vapor transport technique. Nitrogen and boron concentrations have been measured in some samples by secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS). Unlike undoped s.i. SiC, where several different thermal ionization energies have been observed, the ionization energies for all of the vanadium doped s.i. samples studied here were found to cluster around only two values for the two polytypes, EC – 0.86 eV and EC – 1.42 eV for 6H and EC – 1.08 eV and EC – 1.52 eV for 4H. SIMS measurements indicate that the nitrogen concentration exceeds the boron concentration in samples with the shallower of two values while the opposite is true for the deeper level samples. EPR detected both V3+ and V4+ in shallower level samples while only V4+ was detected in the deeper level samples. These results indicate that the vanadium acceptor level, V3+/4+, is located at EC – 0.86 eV in 6H-SiC and EC – 1.08 eV in 4H-SiC. However, some EPR results do show a small, unexpected asymmetry in the angular dependence of the V4+ signal, most noticeably in the 4H samples. This suggests that at least some of the vanadium related levels might be complexed with another defect or be under higher local strain than expected.
9:00 PM - B5.7
Intrinsic Defects in High Purity Semi-insulating 6H SiC.
D. Savchenko 2 , E. Kalabukhova 2 , S. Lukin 2 , T. Sudarshan 3 , Y. Khlebnikov 4 , William Mitchel 1
2 Institute of Semiconductor Physics, NASU, Kiev Ukraine, 3 Department of Electrical Engineering, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, United States, 4 , Intrinsic, Semiconductor Corp., Dulles, Virginia, United States, 1 Materials and Manufacturing Directorate, Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, United States
Show Abstract9:00 PM - B5.8
SIMS Analysis of Nitrogen in Silicon Carbide Using Raster Change Technique.
Larry Wang 1 , Byoung-Suk Park 1
1 , Evans Analytical Group, Sunnyvale, California, United States
Show AbstractToday’s state of the art silicon carbide (SiC) growth can produce semi-insulating crystals with a background doping around 5E15 atoms/cm3 or lower. It is essential to have an accurate measurement technique with low enough detection limit to measure low level nitrogen concentration. Current SIMS detection limit of low E15 atoms/cm3 will provide accurate determination for nitrogen doping level of 5E16 at/cm3 or higher. In order to determine the lower nitrogen concentration, it is necessary to provide a better detection limit and to separate the contribution of background nitrogen properly. The “raster changing” method provides an accurate way to determine and remove contribution of background nitrogen to the signal, because secondary ion intensities and matrix ion intensities can be analyzed at the same location of the sample by changing the primary beam raster size during a profile. In this study we have succeeded in applying the raster changing method to (a) N in the SiC substrate located under an SiC epi layer, and (b) the detection of N as low as 3E14/ cm3 a bulk-doped SiC substrate.
9:00 PM - B5.9
Increase Growth Rate by Powder Geometry Design in SiC Sublimation Growth
Xiaolin Wang 1 , Dang Cai 1 , Hui Zhang 1
1 Mechanical Engineering, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York, United States
Show AbstractSilicon carbide is a promising semiconductor material for electrical and optoelectronic applications in the area of high power, high temperature, high frequency and intense radiation. Many groups have worked on growing SiC bulk crystals by sublimation from SiC powder source at a temperature above 2000 oC under an argon environment. They have also worked on improving the crystal growth rate. Traditional approach is to increase furnace temperature to enhance the growth rate. However, high cost of inert crucible at high temperature and impurity caused by crucible degradation set limit on the maximum growth rate which can be achieved. Current existing crucible and other components in the furnace are no longer passive at high temperature. Also understanding of vapor transport during powder sublimation and the interplay between vapor transport and powder sublimation is important for the optimization of the sublimation growth process. In this paper, a numerical model that combines powder sublimation kinetics and vapor transport phenomenon is present. A driving force is introduced into the SiC powder sublimation kinetics with vapor transport model. The important control parameters, such as Darcy’s number, Biot number and Damköhler number are determined analytically. Furthermore, we also present a new approach to increase crystal growth rate by changing the geometry of the powder, which includes changing porosity and creating a hole to the packed powder in the crucible. Powder porosity evolution and growth rate variation are simulated and compared for the sublimation of SiC powder without hole and with one hole of different sizes. The results show that the growth rate increases by creating a hole to the powder, and this has also been adopted and validated by experimental study. Based on numerical simulation, an optimal geometry and porosity of powder has also been determined.
Symposium Organizers
Michael A. Capano Purdue University
Michael Dudley State University of New York-Stony Brook
Tsunenobu Kimoto Kyoto University-Katsura
Adrian R. Powell Cree Inc.
Shaoping Wang Fairfield Crystal Technology
B6: Semi Insulating SiC
Session Chairs
Wednesday AM, April 19, 2006
Room 3004 (Moscone West)
9:15 AM - **B6.1
Deep Levels in 4H Silicon Carbide Epilayers Induced by Neutron-Irradiation up to 1016 n/cm2.
Anna Cavallini 1 , Antonio Castaldini 1 , Filippo Fabbri 1 , Paolo Errani 1 , Filippo Nava 1 , Vladimir Cindro 1
1 Department of Physics, University of Bologna, Bologna Italy
Show Abstract9:45 AM - B6.2
Deep Levels and Compensation in High Purity Semi-Insulating 4H-SiC.
William Mitchel 1 , W. Mitchell 1 , H. Smith 1 , W. Carlos 2 , E. Glaser 2
1 Materials and Manufacturing Directorate, Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, United States, 2 , Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, District of Columbia, United States
Show AbstractThe compensation mechanisms producing the high resistivity in high purity semi-insulating (HPSI) SiC are still not fully understood. Several defects have been identified by electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) including vacancies and more complex defects such as the divacancy and the carbon vacancy-carbon antisite pair. It has been suggested that some of these defects are responsible for compensation in HPSI SiC. Several photo-EPR experiments suggest that some of these defects have states in the lower half of the bandgap. However, Hall effect measurements on similar material indicates that the Fermi level is in the upper half of the bandgap. In addition, the defect concentrations from EPR measurements appear to be too low to compensate boron and nitrogen impurities known to be in the 1015 to 1016 cm-3 range. To help clarify these questions we report here the results of a study of temperature dependent Hall effect (TDH), EPR, photoluminescence (PL) and secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) measurements on samples from several HPSI 4H-SiC crystals grown by the physical vapor transport technique. Thermal activation energies from TDH varied from a low of 0.55 eV to a high of 1.5 eV. All samples studied showed n-type conduction with the Fermi level in the upper half of the band gap. Carrier concentration measurements indicated the deep levels had to be present in concentrations in the 1015 to 1016 cm-3 range. Several defects were detected by EPR including the carbon vacancy and the carbon-silicon divacancy. PL measurements in the near IR showed the presence of the UD-1, UD-2 and UD-3 emission lines that have been found in HPSI material, along with those from vanadium and chromium, all with varying intensities. No correlation between the relative intensities of the PL lines and the TDH activation energy was observed. SIMS measurements on nitrogen, boron and other common impurities can assist in establishing the type of the compensating deep levels by establishing whether a donor-like or acceptor-like deep level is needed to compensate the shallow levels. This information can be used to help correlate specific defects with deep levels when the charge state of the defect and its photo-response are determined by EPR.
10:00 AM - **B6.3
Characterization of Semi-insulating SiC.
Nguyen Son 1 , Patrik Carlsson 1 , B Magnusson 1 2 , Erik Janzen 1
1 Dept of Physics, Chemistry and Biology, Linkoeping University, Linkoeping Sweden, 2 , Norstel AB, Linkoeping Sweden
Show AbstractIn recent years, significant progress has been made in the development of semi-insulating (SI) SiC substrates for high-frequency power devices. High-purity SI (HPSI) SiC bulk crystals, in which intrinsic defects were used to compensate shallow dopants, have been achieved by both physical vapor transport (PVT) and high temperature chemical vapor deposition (HTCVD) techniques. It is known that depending on the growth conditions, HPSI 4H-SiC may have different activation energies (as determined from the temperature dependence of the resistivity) in the range 0.8-1.1 eV and 1.4-1.5 eV. This indicates the possible involvement of different defects in the carrier compensation processes whose mechanisms still remain unclear. In this report, recent advances in the defect characterization of SI SiC (with and without vanadium doping) are reviewed with focusing on the identification, properties and the role in compensation processes of vacancies, divacancies, carbon vacancy-carbon antisite pairs and other vacancy-related defects in HPSI SiC. High temperature annealing studies of HPSI 4H-SiC with different activation energies reveal the interaction between vacancies to form different vacancy-related complexes and their annealing behavior. The compensation mechanisms involving the silicon vacancy, carbon vacancy, divacancies, vacancy-antisite complexes and shallow impurities (N, B) are suggested to explain the different activation energies in HPSI 4H-SiC. It is also suggested that the reduction of the background doping level of N to the mid 1015 cm–3 range or lower is necessary for achieving HPSI SiC with stable SI-properties.
10:30 AM - B6.4
Deep Levels in As-Grown and Electron-Irradiated P-type 4H-SiC
Katsunori Danno 1 , Tsunenobu Kimoto 1
1 Department of Electronic Science and Engineering, Kyoto University, Kyoto Japan
Show AbstractDeep levels detected in p-type SiC epilayers work as minority carrier (hole) traps in most bipolar devices. Little knowledge is, however, available on deep hole traps in SiC. In this work, we have detected deep hole traps in as-grown p-type 4H-SiC epilayers by deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS).Samples used in this study were Al- or B-doped p-type 4H-SiC epilayers grown by chemical vapor deposition. The net acceptor concentration was 0.5 -1.5 × 1016 cm-3 for Al-doped epilayers and 9.0 × 1015 cm-3 for a B-doped epilayer, respectively. Titanium was employed as a Schottky metal, because high barrier height (about 2.1 eV) could be obtained on p-type 4H-SiC, by which leakage current was suppressed even at very high temperature of 700K. From DLTS measurements from 350K to 700K for Al- or B-doped p-type epilayers, three deep levels (named HK2, HK3 and HK4) could be obtained at 400K, 560K and 630K irrespective of dopant species. The trap concentrations in the Al-doped epilayer were 2.9 × 1012 cm-3, 2.6 × 1012 cm-3 and 1.0 × 1012 cm-3 for HK2, HK3 and HK4, respectively. From the Arrhenius plots of emission-time constants assuming temperature-independent capture cross section for the Al-doped epilayer, the traps were revealed to be energetically located at EV + 0.86 eV (HK2), EV + 1.27 eV (HK3) and EV + 1.44 eV (HK4). DLTS measurements were performed under various electric field to study the charge state of the hole traps. If the trap has negative charge (acceptor-like), the emission time constants should be decreased by increasing the applied electric field. The emission-time constants of each trap were, however, almost unchanged irrespective of applied electric field. These results indicate the absence of Poole-Frenkel effect, therefore the deep hole traps might have a neutral charge state after hole emission, being donor-like (+/0) traps. Thermal stability of these traps was investigated. The thermal annealing was performed in the temperature range from 1000°C to 1550°C for 30 min. Trap concentration of the HK2, HK3 and HK4 in the as-grown epilayer used in this measurement was in the low 1012 cm-3. The concentrations of HK3 and HK4 were reduced to below the detection limit (1-2 × 1011 cm-3) by annealing at 1350°C. The trap HK2 was thermally more stable than HK3 and HK4, and become lower than the detection limit by annealing at 1550°C. To investigate the origins of deep hole traps, we performed low-energy electron irradiation (energy: 160 keV, fluence: 1 × 1018 cm-2). With this irradiation energy of 160 keV, only carbon displacement like generation of carbon vacancies and carbon interstitials can take place. By the irradiation, the trap concentrations of the HK3 and HK4 were significantly increased (HK3: below detection limit (<1-2 × 1011 cm-3) to 1.3 × 1012 cm-3, HK4: 5.5 × 1011 cm-3 to 4.1 × 1012 cm-3). This result indicates that the HK3 and HK4 may be related with carbon displacement. As for HK2, no significant change was observed.
10:45 AM - B6.5
A Study of V3+/4+ Level in Semi-insulating 4H and 6H-SiC Using Optical Admittance Spectroscopy and Electron Paramagnetic Resonance.
Wonwoo Lee 1 , Mary Zvanut 1
1 Physics, Univeristy of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, United States
Show AbstractThe purpose of this study is to identify the vanadium defect levels in semi-insulating 4H and 6H-SiC using optical admittance spectroscopy (OAS) and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR). Comparison of the data for the two polytypes suggests that peaks near 0.67 eV and 0.70 eV in 6H substrates and 0.75 eV in 4H substrates are related to V3+/4+ transition at the cubic sites. A peak at 0.87 eV in the 6H sample is assigned to the same transition at the hexagonal site, and the associated transition in 4H was observed at 0.94 eV in OAS spectra. EPR measurements of both polytypes before illumination revealed the characteristic spectrum of V3+. Thus, the presence of EPR V3+ signal supports the transition to the conduction band from the V3+ charge state in optical admittance spectra. Photo-induced EPR measurements reveal identical photo-thresholds for V3+ and V4+ ions. A peak at 0.8 ± 0.1 eV, where the intensity of the V3+ charge state decreases and the V4+ charge state increases by an equal amount, is thought to represent excitation of an electron from V3+ to the conduction band edge, consistent with the OAS peaks.ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We wish to thank Dr. W.C. Mitchel for supplying the SiC. The work is supported by NSF/DMR.
11:00 AM - B6: SI SIC
BREAK
B7: SiC Materials Issues
Session Chairs
Wednesday PM, April 19, 2006
Room 3004 (Moscone West)
11:30 AM - **B7.1
Atomic Structure of SiC Surfaces: Hydrogen Etching, Non-Basal-Plane Orientations and Metal Ad-Layers
Ulrich Starke 1
1 , Max-Planck-Institut fuer Festkoerperforschung, Stuttgart Germany
Show AbstractThe importance of the detailed atomic structures of SiC surfaces for device related processes has been recognized more and more in recent years. While the structure of the basal-plane surfaces, i.e. SiC(0001) and SiC(000-1) are well known by now, other important issues, such as non-polar orientations, pore surfaces, the metallization of SiC surfaces and even more the surface modifications upon ex situ hydrogen etching are only beginning to be investigated. The present paper reviews recent advances in the structural characterization of surfaces after hydrogen etching or metal deposition and presents new results on different surface orientations of SiC. The surfaces are investigated using atomic force microscopy (AFM), scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), low-energy electron diffraction (LEED), Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS).First, the significant influence of process parameters for hydrogen etching of SiC(0001) is demonstrated, both with respect to the sample morphology as well as for the atomic structure of the surface. Too aggressive etching methods lead to step bunching and the extension of surface defects as shown by AFM. Surface passivation by hydrogen or by oxide monolayers is determined by LEED and AES.Second, the deposition of ultra-thin metallic layers on SiC is discussed. Adsorption and thermal reaction of noble and reactive metals with SiC(0001) are demonstrated by STM, LEED and AES. Ag interacts very little with the surface. Ti on the other hand reacts strongly and forms silicide and carbide bonds depending on the preparation parameters. Several different surface reconstruction phases can be found.Finally, several non-basal plane SiC surface orientations are introduced with different aspects towards future applications. Lying parallel to the c-axis SiC(11-20) promises new growth perspectives for defect free material. In addition to the effect of hydrogen etching, the development of several surface phases with different Si-C compositions, yet the same surface periodicity will be shown. From the development of porous 4H-SiC, another interesting surface orientation has made itself known. The surfaces of a plane oriented diagonal in the bulk unit cell, namely SiC(-110-2) and SiC(1-102) contain one-dimensional chains of different dangling bond configurations. For both surfaces, the morphology and atomic structure upon hydrogen etching and in vacuum preparation are discussed based on AFM, STM, LEED, AES and XPS results.
12:00 PM - **B7.2
Process-Induced Deformations and Stacking Faults in 4H-SiC
Robert Okojie 1 , Xianrong Huang 2 , Michael Dudley 2 , Ming Zhang 3 , Pirouz Pirouz 3
1 Sensors and Electronics Technology Branch, NASA Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio, United States, 2 Dept. of Mater. Sci. & Eng., SUNY, Stony Brook, New York, United States, 3 Dept. of Mater. Sci. & Eng., CWRU, Cleveland, Ohio, United States
Show AbstractOptical(O), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), and High-Resolution X-ray Diffraction (HRXRD) methods are used to obtain knowledge of the deformations and stacking faults (SFs) generated in n-type 4H-SiC wafers and epilayers when subjected to polishing and temperature. Three p-type 4H-SiC wafers with unpolished backside had 2 μm n-type epilayers grown on the Si-face. The doping levels ranged between 5.2 x 1017 and 2 x 1019 cm-3. After treatment at 1150 oC and TEM analysis, SFs, were discovered along the basal plane [11-20] direction in epilayer with doping level as low as 5.2 x 1017 cm-3. This is two orders of magnitude below the proposed threshold (3 x 1019 cm-3) required for the onset of the generation of SFs in annealed epilayers on the basis of quantum well recombination (QWR) [1]. Because SFs cannot in principle be thermally generated via QWR at this lower doping level, this result strongly suggests the existence of an additional relief mechanism. It lends further confirmation of the existence of significant compressive shear stress in the 4H-SiC epilayers after growth on the Si-face wafers with unpolished backside and that plastic deformation occurs when some of the stress is relieved by thermal treatment [2]. The strain energy associated with such deformation is quantitatively determined to be greater than the Peierls energy barrier of the basal plane dislocation, thus allowing for the movement of the SFs. Initial curvature measurement was made on three n-type Si-face virgin wafers [(Nd = 0.636, 1.1, and 2.13) x 1019 cm-3] by OR/HRXRD before and after backside polishing. For the double axis rocking curve, the wafers are linearly scanned along the [11-20] direction from one wafer edge to the other. The peak position shifts to the high-angle side when the beam is scanned across the wafer. The peak shift δθ increases almost linearly with position. Since the lattice constant of the wafer is homogeneous across the wafer, the increasing δθ with position indicates that the (0001) lattice planes are curved. In all three cases, the peak shift δθ increases almost linearly with position and the curvature of the Si-face changes polarity from positive to negative before and after polishing, respectively. This means that the backside polishing process introduces irreversible deformation to the wafer, which is a significant result because it indictaes that the polishing process itself is a strain relief mechanism and could have effects on the wafer microstructure similar to that obtained during thermal processing. The HRXRD measurements after the 2 μm epilayer is deposited show that the curvatures are nearly identical to that before and after epitaxy, which is in contrast to the large residual compressive stress previously reported in epilayers grown on backside unpolished wafers [2]. References[1]Thomas A. Kuhr et al, J. of Appl. Phy., 92(10), 5863-5871. (2002).[2]Robert S. Okojie and Ming Zhang, Mat. Res. Soc. Proc. Vol. 815, 2004.
12:30 PM - B7.3
Diffusion of Boron into 4H SiC from a Borosilicate Glass Source.
MVS Chandrashekhar 1 , Christopher Thomas 1 , Michael Spencer 1
1 Electrical Computer Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, United States
Show AbstractDiffusion of dopants into 4H SiC is extremely difficult owing to the low diffusion coefficients of the various dopants. Boron is the most practical dopant owing to its small size and, consequently, higher diffusivity.Even then, high temperatures (>1500 C) are required to diffuse appreciable amounts of impurities a significant distance into the substrate. The high temperatures also render the surface of SiC susceptible to sublimation induced roughening. It has thus been believed that borosilicate glass sources (used commonly in Si-technology), would not exhibit the thermal and structural stability required to function as an effective diffusion source.In this work, PECVD deposited nominally 4% borosilicate glass (BSG) was investigated as a diffusion source for 4H SiC at temperatures >1500C in vacuum. The impurity profile was then determined by SIMS. It was found that the boron diffused into the substrate. The diffusion constants agree well with previous studies of Boron diffusion from a different source. Under Nomarski microscope inspection, no surface roughening of the SiC,nor degradation of the BSG was observed. Details of the surface roughness as well as activation behavior of the Boron will be presented.
12:45 PM - B7.4
The Role Of Surface Steps On The Glide Of Misfit Dislocations During III-N/4H-Sic Heteroepitaxial Growth.
Nabil Bassim 1 , Mark Twigg 1 , Charles Eddy 1 , Michael Mastro 1 , Philip Neudeck 2 , Andrew Trunek 3 , J. Anthony Powell 4 , Ronald Holm 1 , Richard Henry 1
1 Electronics Science and Technology Division, U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, SW, District of Columbia, United States, 2 , NASA Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio, United States, 3 , OAI, NASA Glenn, Cleveland, Ohio, United States, 4 , Sest, Inc., NASA Glenn, Cleveland, Ohio, United States
Show AbstractThe development of patterned 4H-SiC substrates that have mesas that are free of surface steps has allowed us to investigate the role that such steps play in heteroepitaxial growth. Using site-specific plan-view and cross-sectional transmission electron microsocpy (TEM), we have already shown that heterepitaxially grown III-nitride films on step-free mesas have extremely low threading dislocation densities. Because threading dislocations have been identified as defects that contribute to leakage in vertical devices, a further understanding of the effect of surface steps on dislocation formation is critical. Our results also show that the misfit dislocation structure of III-Nitride films grown on unstepped surfaces are markedly different than those grown on stepped surfaces, with past results indicating that threading dislocations nucleate at buried surface steps. In this work, we present both new experimental results that examine dislocation nucleation at steps and from the mesa sidewall, as well as a new analytical model that describes dislocation-step interactions. Our model is essentially a force balance between the biaxial stress required for a misfit dislocation half-loop to glide in from the mesa sidewall and the attractive/repulsive forces of a step. We show that the elastic force of surface step is able to impede misfit dislocation motion in the early stages of heteroepitaxial growth, thereby activating a secondary slip system in the III-Nitride system. We will also show how the predictions of this theory are mirrored in the dislocation/step configurations observed by TEM.
B8: Epitaxy of 3C SiC
Session Chairs
Wednesday PM, April 19, 2006
Room 3004 (Moscone West)
2:30 PM - **B8.1
Development of a high-growth rate 3C-SiC on Si CVD process.
Meralys Reyes-Negron 1 2 , Yevgeniy Shishkin 1 , Stephen Saddow 1
1 Electrical Engineering Dept., University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, United States, 2 Chemical Engineering Dept., University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, United States
Show Abstract3:00 PM - B8.2
Preparation of Atomically Flat 3C-SiC(001) on Si Surfaces Uusing H2-etching.
Camilla Coletti 1 , Martin Hetzel 2 , Chariya Virojanadara 2 , Ulrich Starke 2 , Stephen Saddow 1
1 Electrical Engineering, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, United States, 2 , Max-Planck-Institut fuer Festkoerperforschung, Stuttgart Germany
Show AbstractReproducible hydrogen etching processes to improve the surface morphology of 3C-SiC on Si(001) substrates with different original surface conditions have been developed. The effect of hydrogen etching on these surfaces has been investigated using AFM, LEED and AES. As-grown and chemical-mechanical polished (CMP) 3C-SiC(001) samples have been etched in a horizontal hot-wall CVD reactor at atmospheric pressure in a hydrogen flux (10slm flow rate) for temperatures ranging from 900 to 1300 °C. The samples were etched for 10-30 minutes and cooled down in a hydrogen flux since this has been shown to terminate surface dangling bonds with hydrogen resulting in a more stable surface. AFM has been used as the main characterization tool to develop an optimum etching process. From the first set of etching experiments the surface morphology appeared to be strongly dependent on the sample history. Thus, two optimum etching processes (e.g. different etching parameters) have been defined for the two different sets of samples. Flat, high-quality surfaces presenting defined atomic terraces and a low RMS surface roughness were obtained on substrates etched at 1100°C for as-grown and 1300°C for CMP-treated samples. In both cases, higher etching temperatures resulted in surfaces with step bunching and enlarged surface defects. Samples etched under the best conditions have been studied using LEED and AES. In an UHV analytical analysis chamber, without any intermediate treatment, the surfaces revealed a sharp (5x1) LEED pattern. A (5x1) surface reconstruction has previously not been reported on 3C-SiC(001) for UHV prepared surfaces and therefore appears to be a new structure for this material. In addition, using AES a ‘bulk-like’ SiC composition was revealed up to the near surface region, with a trace of oxygen present due to previous air exposure. This further indicates that high-quality surfaces are revealed after etching. The final goal of this research is to develop a reproducible process to prepare well-ordered, flat and homogeneous 3C-SiC surfaces for subsequent device processing and to determine the resulting surface structure.
3:15 PM - **B8.3
Recent Results From Epitaxial Growth on Step Free 4H-SiC Mesas
Philip Neudeck 1 , Andrew Trunek 2 , David Spry 2 , J. Anthony Powell 3 , Hui Du 4 , Marek Skowronski 4 , Nabil Bassim 5 , Michael Mastro 5 , Mark Twigg 5 , Ronald Holm 5 , Richard Henry 5 , Charles Eddy 5
1 , NASA Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio, United States, 2 , OAI, NASA Glenn, Cleveland, Ohio, United States, 3 , Sest, Inc., NASA Glenn, Cleveland, Ohio, United States, 4 Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, 5 Electronics Science and Technology Div., Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, District of Columbia, United States
Show AbstractThe ability to produce arrays of device sized (up to 0.4 mm x 0.4 mm) 4H-SiC mesas with silicon-face (0001) top surfaces entirely free of atomic scale steps has enabled realization of unique and improved wide bandgap epitaxial films. For example, when heteroepitaxial films of 3C-SiC or 2H-GaN are properly grown on top of such step-free 4H mesa surfaces, 100-fold reductions in heterofilm dislocation density have been achieved compared with growth on conventional surfaces with steps [1,2]. Furthermore, 4H-SiC thin lateral cantilevers entirely free of dislocations have also been realized [1]. Despite these achievements, some physical limitations and mechanisms of step-free mesa growth processes remain to be more fully understood. This paper updates recent progress made in growth, characterization, and understanding of high quality homoepitaxial and heteroepitaxial films grown on step-free 4H-SiC mesas. First, we report initial achievement of step-free 4H-SiC surfaces with carbon-face surface polarity. Next, we will describe further observations of how step-free 4H-SiC thin lateral cantilever evolution is significantly impacted by crystal faceting behavior which imposes non-uniform film thickness on cantilever undersides. Finally, recent investigations of in-plane lattice constant mismatch strain relief mechanisms observed for heteroepitaxial growth of 3C-SiC as well as 2H-AlN/GaN heterofilms on step-free 4H-SiC mesas will be reviewed [3,4]. In both cases, the complete elimination of atomic heterointerface steps on the mesa structure enables uniquely well-ordered misfit dislocation arrays to form near the heterointerface with remarkable lack of dislocations threading vertically into the heteroepilayer. In the case of 3C-SiC heterofilms, it has been proposed that dislocation half-loops nucleate at mesa edges and glide laterally along the step-free 3C/4H interface [3]. In contrast, 3C-SiC and 2H-AlN/GaN heterofilms grown on 4H-SiC mesas with steps exhibit highly disordered interface misfit dislocation structure coupled with 100X greater density of dislocations threading through the thickness of the heteroepilayers. These results indicate that the presence of steps at the heteroepitaxial interface (i.e., on the initial heteroepitaxial nucleation surface) play a highly important role in the defect structure, quality, and relaxation mechanisms of single-crystal heteroepitaxial films. [1]P. G. Neudeck and J. A. Powell, in Silicon Carbide: Recent Major Advances, W. J. Choyke, H. Matsunami, and G. Pensl, Eds., Springer-Verlag: Heidelberg, Germany, pp. 179-205, 2003.[2]N. D. Bassim, et al., Applied Physics Letters, vol. 86, pp. 021902-3, 2005.[3]H. Du et al., to appear in Materials Science Forum, ICSCRM-05 Proceedings.[4]N. D. Bassim, et al., to appear in Materials Science Forum, ICSCRM-05 Proceedings.
3:45 PM - B8.4
Process Control During Liquid Phase Epitaxial Growth of 3C-SiC on Si Substrates.
Mark Smith 1 , M Voelskow 2 , R McMahon 1 , W Skorupa 2
1 , Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, Cambridge United Kingdom, 2 , Forschungszentrum Rossendorf, Dresden Germany
Show Abstract4:00 PM - B8: 3C SiC
BREAK
B9: Epitaxy II
Session Chairs
Wednesday PM, April 19, 2006
Room 3004 (Moscone West)
4:30 PM - B9.1
Epitaxial Growth and Characterization of SiC on Different Orientations.
Larry Rowland 1 , Canhua Li 2 , Greg Dunne 1 , Jody Fronheiser 1
1 , GE Global Research, Niskayuna, New York, United States, 2 , Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York, United States
Show Abstract4:45 PM - **B9.2
Advances in 4H-SiC Homoepitaxy for Power Devices.
Bernd Thomas 1 , Christian Hecht 1
1 , SiCED Electronics Development GmbH & Co. KG, Erlangen Germany
Show AbstractIn the last 10 years the market for SiC based devices has been developed continuously. The device quality could be enhanced and the costs have been reduced by improving the quality and size of the wafer material as well as by a significant progress in epitaxial growth of active layers.The segment of power devices plays an important role within the SiC device market. Today Schottky Barrier Diodes (SBD) with blocking voltages of 300V, 600V and 1200V are available at the market. SBD’s with higher blocking voltages (e.g. 1700V) and JFET-based switches are expected to be introduced in the near future. The aimed device performance determines the specifications of the active epitaxial layers. Besides material properties like good crystal structure, purity and specular surface morphology a doping homogeneity better than 10% and a thickness homogeneity better than 2% on waferscale are required for productive process management. For the mentioned voltage classes the CVD process should guarantee a doping range of ND-NA from 4xE15 to 2xE16 cm-3 and a layer thickness between 3.5 and 15 µm. In order to achieve this reliable, the background doping level should be at least one order of magnitude lower than the active doping concentration. Furthermore, the run-to-run as well as the wafer-to-wafer reproducibility of a multi-wafer process is of significant importance for production suitability and stability.For a further market penetration of SiC power devices an effective cost reduction is necessary. One essential factor - the epitaxial cost - can be reduced by increasing the reactor capacity by the use of multi-wafer systems. To realize lower material costs, special attention must be paid to the reduced off-orientation for large area substrates which needs to evaluate new process windows. Additionally, equipment parameters, which are not directly related to the properties of epitaxial layers are of great interest to utilize a cost-effective system for large-scale production.We will present recent results of the homoepitaxial growth of 4H-SiC on 3” (0001) 8°- and 4°-off oriented wafers using multi- and single-wafer hot-wall CVD systems. The multi-wafer equipment exhibits a capacity of 7x3” wafers per run and can be upgraded to a 5x4” set-up. The single-wafer CVD allows deposition on 3x2”, 1x3” or 1x4” substrate configurations. By optimizing the process conditions epitaxial layers with excellent crystal quality, purity and homogeneity of doping and thickness were grown. The wafer-to-wafer homogeneity will be illustrated by the presentation of the doping and thickness mappings of full-loaded runs. The run-to-run reproducibility will be discussed as well as the stability and reliability of the reactor. To specify the epi-layer quality results from various characterization techniques will be presented.
5:15 PM - B9.3
High Quality Uniform Thick Epitaxy of 4H-SiC for High Power Device Applications
Jie Zhang 1 , Esteban Romano 1 , Igor Sankin 1 , Janice Mazzola 1 , Carl Hoff 1 , Yaroslav Koshka 2 , Janna Casady 1 , Mike Mazzola 1 , Jeff Casady 1
1 , SemiSouth Laboratories, Inc., Starkville, Mississippi, United States, 2 Electrical and Computer Engineering, Mississippi State University, Starkville, Mississippi, United States
Show AbstractFor high power device applications, thick 4H-SiC epilayers are required as the voltage blocking layer [1]. While thick SiC epilayers grown at growth rates greater than 20 um/h have been reported using vertical hot-wall reactors [2, 3], much recent research on the SiC thick epitaxy has been conducted with horizontal hot-wall CVD reactors. This is mainly attributed to the fact that these reactors are most commonly available and have been able to produce high quality SiC epilayers. Successful growth of thick SiC epilayers has been demonstrated in the horizontal hot-wall CVD reactors, with most of them being research tools with limited wafer handling capacity [4, 5]. In this paper, we will present the development of thick SiC epitaxy in a production horizontal hot-wall reactor. This reactor is equipped with wafer rotation and can grow three 2-in wafers at a time or single wafers up to 4-in in diameter. The feasibility for thick epitaxy in this reactor was first demonstrated using standard growth rates with prolonged growth time. Subsequently process optimization for improved surface morphology and increased growth rate is being performed. 4H-SiC substrates, either 2-in or 3-in, 8-deg. off-axis towards [11-20] direction, are used. Surface morphology is inspected using optical microscopy with Nomarski contrast. The doping is obtained by CV measurements and the thickness by either FTIR or SEM cross section inspection. With the standard process conditions, we have grown a 60-um thick epilayer on a 2-in substrate at a growth rate of 6 um/h with excellent thickness uniformity of 2.5%. The doping was 1.2x1015 cm-3 with a good uniformity of 10.8%. The system and process stability has been proven by the successful growth of a 100-um epilayer on a 3-in substrate for 20 hours with a growth rate of 5 um/h. The n-doping was 5.8x1014 cm-3 with a uniformity of 18%. The surface morphology was relatively smooth for the 60-um epilayer, whereas a certain degree of step-bunching was observed for the 100-um epi. We will show that through the optimization of the growth conditions, epilayers thicker than 100 um with good morphology and uniformity can be achieved. In addition, we will demonstrate increased growth rates through process optimization for thick epitaxial growth in this production CVD reactor. AcknowledgementsThis work is partially supported by DARPA SBIR Phase II, AFRL Contract # FA8650-05-C-7209, monitored by Dr. John Blevins.References[1] Y. Sugawara, Materials Science Forum vols. 457-460 (2004), p. 963[2] A. Ellison, J. Zhang, A. Henry and E. Janzén, J. Cryst. Growth vol. 236 (2002), p. 225[3] H. Tsuchida, I. Kamata, T. Jikimoto and K. Izumi, Materials Science Forum vols. 389-393 (2002), p. 171[4] J. Zhang, J. Mazzola, C. Hoff, Y. Koshka and J.B. Casady, Materials Science Forum vols. 483-485 (2005), p. 77 [5] R. Myers, O. Kordina, Z. Shishkin, S. Rao, R. Everly and S.E. Saddow, Materials Science Forum vols. 483-485 (2005), p. 73
5:30 PM - B9.4
Multiplication of Basal Plane Dislocation via Interaction with c-Axis Threading Dislocations in 4H-SiC.
Govindhan Dhanaraj 1 , Yi Chen 1 , William Vetter 1 , Hui Chen 1 , Jie Bai 1 , Hui Zhang 2 , Michael Dudley 1
1 Materials Science and Engineering, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York, United States, 2 Mechanical Engineering, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York, United States
Show Abstract5:45 PM - B9.5
High Quality Homoepitaxy on Micropipe-Free Silicon Carbide (SiC) Substrates for Large Area Devices
Christer Hallin 1 , Yuri Khlebnikov 1 , Peter Muzykov 1 , Igor Khlebnikov 1 , Jan-Olof Svedberg 2 , Andrei Konstantinov 2 , Chris Harris 1 , Cem Basceri 1 , Cengiz Balkas 1
1 , INTRINSIC Semiconductor, Dulles, Virginia, United States, 2 , INTRINSIC Semiconductor AB, Kista Sweden
Show AbstractThe move towards commercialization of SiC based devices places increasing demands on the quality of the substrate and epitaxy materials. Structural defects such as MPs, dislocations and stacking faults are often detrimental to device yield and/or performance, and still present in commercial materials. While the industry has steadily decreased the MP levels in commercial SiC substrates over the past years, the achievement of wafers that are entirely free of MPs marks an important milestone in commercialization of SiC based devices. We present the results of a study for controlling the nucleation and propagation of MP defects in SiC ingots grown via Physical Vapor Transport (PVT). Our studies confirm that during bulk growth of SiC, foreign polytype nucleation such as 3C-polytype occurs at the initial stages of growth (nucleation period) and/or during subsequent growth in the presence of facets. Results in this investigation suggest that polytype instability during crystal growth adversely impacts the MP density. Based on this key concept, SiC single crystal ingot growth conditions for nucleation and growth stages were optimized. These conditions were subsequently implemented in an innovative PVT growth environment to achieve a process technique with highly effective polytype control. Under continuously modulated growth conditions, MPs induced by seed material and/or formed during the growth were eliminated. 2-inch and 3-inch diameter MP-free (zero MP density) conducting 4H-SiC ingots were obtained. In addition to the crystal quality of substrates, in-situ pre-epitaxial treatments, process temperature and pressure, precursor and carrier flows, are the critical epitaxy growth parameters impacting the level of defects in epitaxial layers. In this part, we will present the results from CVD grown SiC epitaxial layers (1µm to 50µm thick) on MP-free substrates in hot-wall multi-wafer reactors. Characteristics of the epitaxial layers grown on three distinct off-axis cut SiC substrates (<1ο, 4o, and 8o off from <0001> direction) will be discussed. In addition, both Si- and C-face growth studies will be compared for differences in surface energy and growth chemistry impact on dislocation propagation. Dislocations and their arrays (e.g., along grain boundaries) are known to be one of the critical non-radiative recombination centers. The full wafer minority carrier lifetime measurements as well as etch pit density post molten KOH etch and their relation to the distribution of dislocations will be presented. It will also be discussed that possibility of forming dislocations arrays in MP-free SiC substrates and their propagation into epitaxial layers. Initial results from 700V, 100A Schottky diode shortloop test structures (6x6 mm2) on MP-free substrates with approximately 80% functional device yield will also be presented.
B10: Poster Session: SiC Device Posters
Session Chairs
Thursday AM, April 20, 2006
Salons 8-15 (Marriott)
9:00 PM - B10.1
Laser-Patterned Deep Green to Light Yellow Silicon Carbide Light-Emitting Diodes.
Sachin Bet 1 , Nathaniel Quick 2 , Aravinda Kar 1
1 MMAE/CREOL, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida, United States, 2 , Applicote Associates, LLC, Sanford, Florida, United States
Show AbstractLaser direct writing and doping has already been successfully demonstrated for fabrication of PIN diodes, Ohmic and Schottky contacts and other optical structures in silicon carbide (SiC). Although SiC is an indirect bandgap semiconductor a SiC green light emitting diode (LED) has been recently shown to perform better than a GaN green LED. This observation is primarily due to 1) a simple device structure in SiC as opposed to multilayered structure in GaN and other high bandgap semiconductor compounds and 2) high thermal conductivity. Little success has been achieved in fabrication of yellow LED’s. This work focuses on the fabrication of deep green to yellow LED’s by using novel laser direct writing and doping techniques.Three different types of wafer samples 6H:SiC (undoped), 4H:SiC (n-type) with 10 μm thick epilayer and 6H:SiC (n-type) were used for fabrication of LED’s. A Nd:YAG laser (1064nm wavelength) was used in continuous wave mode as well as pulsed mode for doping. Doping process iterations were carried out to obtain a uniform doped layer. Two different techniques were employed for patterning: 1) top doping where the incident laser beam assists in doping on the top surface and 2) bottom doping where the bottom surface is doped using the same top incident laser beam. Different structures were synthesized using these two doping techniques depending on the substrate polytype. P-type dopants such as boron (in powder form) and aluminum (metalorganic compound tri-methyl aluminum) and n-type dopant (pure nitrogen gas) were used. The doped structures were characterized by SIMS for dopant concentration, I-V characteristics and C-V characteristics. Photoluminescence and electroluminescence spectrum of the doped samples showed the output in the range of deep green to light yellow for different samples and the different structures. The feasibility of wavelength tuning using a nanostructure patterning has also been explored.
9:00 PM - B10.11
Pr-O-N Dielectrics for MIS Stacks on Silicon and Silicon Carbide Surfaces.
Karsten Henkel 1 , Mohamed Torche 1 , Rakesh Sohal 1 , Carola Schwiertz 1 , Ioanna Paloumpa 1 , Dieter Schmeißer 1
1 Angewandte Physik-Sensorik, BTU Cottbus, Cottbus, Brandenburg, Germany
Show AbstractWe combine higk-k dielectrics with high band gap semiconductors for new possibilities for high frequency and high power applications. We investigate the dielectric properties of Praseodymium based oxides and silicates by prepared MIS structures consisting of metal layer (M), Pr-Ox as a high-K insulating layer (I), and silicon (Si) or silicon carbide (SiC) as semiconductor substrates (S). Our approach uses both, electrical measurements and spectroscopic characterisation for the stability of the various interfaces within the stacks. Pr2O3 layers are prepared by electron beam evaporation from Pr6O11 powder and in situ controlling of interface and volume composition (XPS). Pr-Silicate layers were prepared either by metal evaporation onto a thin oxide on top of the semiconductor and following annealing steps or by a wet chemical process out of aqueous Pr(NO3)3 solutions.The reactivity of the metal electrodes on thin (2nm) Pr2O3 films is addressed for metal contacts. Al, Au, Ag layers are thermally evaporated while Ti layer was deposited by sublimation. XPS results show a strong diffusivity of Al, Ag, and Au in Pr2O3 upon annealing to 300°C with an alloy formation with the Si substrate. In contrast, Ti remained stable even upon annealing up to 900°C. These results demonstrate that Ti is a good diffusion barrier between Pr2O3 and metal contacts and we used for our further studies Ti/Al double layers as contacts. We also report on the optimisation of the preparation conditions of the dielectric films in terms of the stability of the coexisting Pr2O3 , Pr-silicate, and SiO2 phases.For the electrical measurements we produced Pr2O3 layers in the thickness range of 16nm to 175nm. Here we used capacitance-voltages analysis and found permittivity values (DK=εr) of 8 to 20 depending on physical thickness. These data are consistent with the formation of a Pr-silicate layer at the interface between SiO2 and Pr2O3. The thinner the layer the more significant is the contribution of the lower DK of the interfacial layer. The reported DK values result in an equivalent oxide thickness (EOT) down to 5nm. By analyzing the conductance voltage dependencies we found high interface state densities in the range of 5*1012 to 1013 cm2/Vs. Current voltage characteristics deliver leakage currents at 1V above flat band in the range of 10-2 A/cm2. Attempts to reduce especially the leakage current and interface state density and of further shrinking of EOT will be shown.
9:00 PM - B10.12
Comparison of Parameter Extraction Techniques for Schottky Barrier Diode Gas Sensors
Ming Weng 1 , Alton Horsfall 1 , Cezar Dimitriu 1 , Nick Wright 1 , Konstantin Vassilevski 1 , Irina Nikitina 1
1 , University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle upon Tyne United Kingdom
Show AbstractSchottky barrier diodes fabricated on Silicon carbide have been demonstrated as gas sensors for deployment in extreme environments. Work has shown that the interfacial layer formed at the Schottky – semiconductor junction, determines both the sensitivity and the reliability of the device [1]. Hence, accurate knowledge of the thickness, composition and trap density of this layer is required to make predictions of the behaviour of the sensor in the environment under investigation. Diode parameters, such as the ideality factor, barrier height and series resistance have been extracted from experimental measurements over a range of temperatures. The comparison of the parameters extracted from modified Norde function, Cheung’s method and thermonic emission model has been performed. The variation in the barrier height obtained is quite marked between the different techniques. The reverse I-V characteristics have been simulated using a Quantum mechanical based simulation tool, which includes correction for the effect of interfacial layers [2]. This allows a comparison between the effective interfacial layer behaviour for the different parameter extraction techniques and demonstrates that knowledge of this interfacial layer is influenced by the technique selected.[1]P. Tobias, et al, IEEE Sensors Journal, Vol. 20, No. 5, 2003, pp. 543[2]C-B. Dimitriu, et al, Semiconductor Science and Technology, Vol. 20, 2005, pp. 10
9:00 PM - B10.13
Demonstration of Hybrid Silicon-on-Silicon Carbide Wafers and Electrical Test Structures with Improved Thermal Performance.
Steven Whipple 1 , John Torvik 2 , Randolph Treece 3 , Jeffrey Bernacki 3
1 Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, United States, 2 Electrical Engineering, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, United States, 3 , Astralux, Inc., Boulder, Colorado, United States
Show AbstractSiC is a wide bandgap semiconductor with excellent material properties such as high breakdown field, saturation velocity, and adequate electron mobility as well as up to three times higher thermal conductivity compared to Si. It is expected that SiC devi