title: Study on the growth of heteroepitaxial cubic silicon carbide layers in atmospheric-pressure H2-based plasma.
abstract: The heteroepitaxial growths of cubic silicon carbide (3C-SiC) layers on Si(001) substrates are studied at a temperature of 800 degrees C in atmospheric-pressure (AP) plasma excited by a 150 MHz, very high-frequency (VHF) power using a porous carbon electrode. The effect of a very large C/Si ratio (-400) of the source molecules on the improvement of crystallinity of the resultant SiC layer is mainly investigated. For this purpose, we utilize the chemical transport of Si induced by AP H2/CH4 plasma instead of using SiH4 as the Si source. The layer crystallinity is characterized using reflection high-energy electron diffraction, transmission electron microscopy and infrared absorption spectroscopy. The results show that the SiC layer exhibits the (001) 3C-SiC growth aligned to the Si matrix epitaxially. Although the SiC layer contains a high density of defects originating presumably from anti-phase boundaries and twin boundaries, the layer crystallinity has been considerably improved in comparison with that of the layer grown with C/Si = 10. It is also demonstrated that the moderate dilution of H2 with He leads to a further improvement of the layer crystallinity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Precision Science and Technology, Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University, 2-1 Yamada-Oka, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroaki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kakiuchi
authors.forename: Hiromasa
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ohmi
authors.forename: Kiyoshi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yasutake
mesh_terms: D001274:Atmospheric Pressure; D017554:Carbon Compounds, Inorganic / Q000737:chemistry*; D003460:Crystallization / Q000379:methods*; D006859:Hydrogen / Q000737:chemistry*; D046911:Macromolecular Substances / Q000737:chemistry; D008422:Materials Testing; D008968:Molecular Conformation; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D010316:Particle Size; D058626:Plasma Gases / Q000737:chemistry*; D017655:Silicon Compounds / Q000737:chemistry*; D013499:Surface Properties
chemical_list: D017554:Carbon Compounds, Inorganic; D046911:Macromolecular Substances; D058626:Plasma Gases; D017655:Silicon Compounds; D006859:Hydrogen; C022088:silicon carbide