GROWTH OF HIGH-QUALITY 3C-SIC EPITAXIAL-FILMS ON OFF-AXIS SI(001) SUBSTRATES AT 850-DEGREES-C BY REACTIVE MAGNETRON SPUTTERING

Single crystal 3C-SiC films of thickness approximately 10 mum were grown by reactive magnetron sputtering on off-axis Si(001) at 850-degrees-C. The film quality was comparable to the best chemical vapor deposited 3C-SiC as characterized by x-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and photoluminescence (PL). The lattice mismatch and difference in thermal contraction between SiC and Si resulted in complete arrays of misfit dislocations at the film/substrate interface and a residual in-plane strain of (-6.9+/-1) X 10(-4), respectively. The full width at half-maximum (FWHM) of the 3C-SiC(004) peak was 59 arcsec in omega-2theta direction. The structural defects in the SiC film were planar faults on {111} planes and no voids or plastic deformation in the Si substrate were observed. PL spectra of SiC films showed characteristic appearances with N bound-exciton (N-BE) lines with a FWHM value of 3.4 meV. The deposition conditions leading to low defect-density 3C-SiC films are discussed in terms of low-energy ion-surface interactions.