Epitaxial growth of 4H-SiC with high growth rate using CH3Cl and SiCl4 chlorinated growth precursors

Thick 4H-SiC epitaxial layers have been grown using a combination of two chlorinated precursors silicon tetrachloride (SiCl4) and chloromethane (CH3Cl) at 1600 degrees C. Growth rates up to 100 mu m/hr have been demonstrated. The use of chloro-silane precursor eliminated the problem of homogenous nucleation of Si in the gas phase, which was significant in CH3Cl/SiH4 growth. Much higher values of Si/H-2 and C/H-2 ratios without morphology degradation were made possible by increasing the growth temperature from 1300 to 1600 degrees C. Results of photoluminescence and high-resolution X-ray diffraction and time-resolved PL were used to evaluate the quality of the epitaxial layers. The crystalline quality and the growth rate achieved so far offer a promise of exceeding the state of the arts results achieved with more traditional hydro-carbon precursors.