Stress relaxation during the growth of 3C-SiC/Si thin films

In this work the authors study the strain of 3C-SiC thin films grown on (001) on-axis silicon substrates. They use ex situ wafer curvature measurements to monitor the residual strain of silicon carbide film. At high temperature creep effects take place and modify the intrinsic strain of silicon carbide film. From the time and temperature dependences of these effects, they determine the creep exponent and the creep activation energy for 3C-SiC. Obtained values of N=2.6 +/- 0.3 and Q=5.6 +/- 1.0 eV are similar to those reported in literature for hexagonal polytypes of silicon carbide. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.