Evaluation of Stacking Faults in Single-Crystalline 3C-SiC Films by Polarized Raman Spectroscopy

Abstract

Thin films of 3C-SiC were grown by vapor phase epitaxy on 2-in. Si(100) substrates to a thickness of 6000 nm. The correlation between stacking faults and the full width at half maximum (FWHM) of transverse optical (TO) Raman lines was analyzed. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and micro-Raman spectroscopy were performed to measure stacking fault density and FWHM, respectively. Cross-sectional TEM images show that the high-defect-density region extends to 1500 nm above the film-substrate interface. FWHM decreased sharply with increasing distance from the interface to 4000 nm in 3C-SiC, and it gradually decreased beyond 4000 nm. The correlation between stacking fault density and FWHM was found to be nearly linear.