EPITAXIAL THIN-FILM GROWTH, CHARACTERIZATION AND DEVICE DEVELOPMENT IN MONOCRYSTALLINE ALPHA-SILICON AND BETA-SILICON CARBIDE

High purity monocrystalline β-SiC films have been chemically vapor deposited on Si (100) and α-SiC (0001) by numerous groups around the world using SiH4 and C3H8 or C2H4 carried in H2. Films grown on nominal Si (100) contain substantial concentrations of dislocations, stacking faults and inversion domain boundaries; those deposited on α-SiC (0001) contain primarily double positioning boundaries. Both types of boundaries may be eliminated by using off-axis orientations of the respective substrates. However, the films grown on off-axis α substrates were the α(6H) polytype. Schottky diode, p-n junction, MESFET, MOSFET and HBT devices have been fabricated with encouraging results for future commercial applications. The reverse leakage currents were much lower and the breakdown voltages considerably higher at all temperatures for the Schottky and p-n junction diodes on the α(6H)-SiC films. MESFETs fabricated using diodes in the α films were superior to those in β with the transconductance being more than 15 times greater in the former. Enhancement- and depletion-mode MOSFETs fabricated in films grown on α(6H) substrates exhibited very good behavior in terms of saturation, drain voltage and high-temperature operation. The results of this international effort and the remaining challenges related to the development of SiC microelectronics are described in this review. © 1992.