Control of Al and B doping transients in 6H and 4H SiC grown by vapor phase epitaxy

Abstract

The atomic concentration profiles in 4H and 6H SiC created by Al and B doping turn-on and turn-off during vapor phase epitaxy (VPE) was investigated by secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS). It was found that dopant traces were adsorbed to the reactor walls and re-evaporated after the dopant precursor flow was switched off. This adsorption/re-evaporation process limits the doping dynamic range to about three orders of magnitude for Al, and two orders of magnitude for B. An order of magnitude in doping dynamics could be gained by simultaneously switching the gases and changing the C:Si precursor ratio. By adding a 10 min growth interruption with an H or HC1 etch at the doping turn-off, the background doping tail could be considerably suppressed. In total, a doping dynamics for Al of almost five orders of magnitude can be controlled within a 30 nm layer. For B, the dynamic range is more than three orders of magnitude, and the abruptness is most probably diffusion limited. Abackground doping level of 2 × 1015 cm−3 for Al and 2 × 1016 cm−3 for B was obtained. For Al, the background doping is most probably due to the adsorption/re-evaporation of dopants at the reactor walls; while for B, the background doping may in addition be limited by diffusion.