4H-SiC planarization using catalyst-referred etching with pure water

A novel abrasive-free polishing method called catalyst-referred etching (CARE) has been developed. CARE can be used to chemically planarize a silicon carbide (SiC) surface with an etching agent activated by a catalyst. Platinum (Pt) and hydrofluoric (HF) acid are used as the catalyst and etchant, respectively. CARE can produce an atomically flat and crystallographically highly ordered surface of 4H-SiC (0001) with a root-mean-square roughness of less than 0.1 rim regardless of the cut-off angle. However, industrial use of CARE is difficult because of HF acid usage. In this study, pure water was investigated as an alternative etchant to HF acid. We examined CARE using pure water by applying it to the planarization of a 4H-SiC substrate and observed a feasible performance. The removal mechanism is considered to be the dissociative adsorption of water molecules to the Si-C bonds of the topmost Si atom, namely the hydrolysis of the back bond, and the catalysis of Pt is considered to enhance the reaction. CARE with pure water is expected to represent a breakthrough method for surface processing of SiC, and will be widely applied in industrial processes such as planarization after high temperature processing in device fabrication.