3C-SiC hetero-epitaxial growth on undulant Si(001) substrate

A novel technique to eliminate planar defects in the 3C-SiC hetero-epitaxial layer on Si substrate was developed. Before growing 3C-SiC, countered slopes oriented in the [1 1 0] and [(1) over bar (1) over bar 0] directions were formed over the entire surface of Si(0 0 1) substrate (undulant-Si). In the initial stage of 3C-SiC growth, step flow epitaxy occurred on the surface slopes of the substrate, reducing the anti-phase boundaries. Continuous, twin boundaries (TBs) were arranged in parallel along the (1 1 1) or ((1) over bar (1) over bar 1) planes. The twin boundaries were eliminated through combination of the countered TBs with 3C-SiC growth. Finally, no planar defects were observed on the surface of 200-mum thick 3C-SiC grown on "Undulant-Si". (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.