Growth and surface morphologies of 6H SiC bulk and epitaxial crystals

Bulk crystals and epitaxial layers of 6H SiC have been grown and their surface morphologies have been investigated. Seeded sublimation has been employed to obtain bulk 6H SiC crystals whereas a silicon tetrachloride-propane based chemical vapor deposition (CVD) was used for growing epitaxial layers. The hot-zones were designed using numerical simulation. Growth rates up to 200 mu m/hr could be achieved in the CVD process. A new growth-assisted hydrogen etching was developed to reveal the distribution of the micropipes present in the substrate. Morphological features were studied using Nomarski, atomic force microscopy (AFM), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and the structural quality was evaluated using synchrotron X-ray topography.