Stress evaluation on hetero-epitaxial 3C-SiC film on (100) Si substrates

SiC is a candidate material for micro- and nano-electromechanical systems (MEMS and NEMS). In order to understand the impact that the growth rate has on the residual stress of CVD-grown 3C-SiC hetero-epitaxial films on Si substrates, growth experiments were performed and the resulting stress was evaluated. The film thickness was held constant at similar to 2.5 mu m independent of the growth rate so as to allow for direct comparison of films as a function of the growth rate. Supported by profilometry, Raman and micro-machined free-standing structures, this study shows that the growth rate is a fundamental parameter for the low-defect and the low-stress hetero-epitaxial growth process of 3C-SiC on Si substrates.