Formation of precipitates in heavily boron doped 4H-SiC

Secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) are utilized to study precipitation and the solubility of B in 4H-SiC epitaxial layers super saturated with B. Heat treatments are performed in Ar atmosphere in an rf-heated furnace at temperatures between 1700 and 2000 degrees C. SIMS ion images, and TEM micrographs reveal the formation of two types of precipitates where the larger, more thermally stable one is suggested to be B4C. The boron solubility is determined from SIMS depth profiles and is shown to follow the Arrhenius expression: 7.1 x 10(22) exp(-1.4 eV/k(B)T) cm(-3) over the studied temperature range. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.