Fabrication of Smooth Surface on 4H-SiC Substrate by Ultraviolet Assisted Local Polishing in Hydrogen Peroxide Solution

Abstract

In this study, we investigated the possibility of removing and smoothing a single-crystal silicon carbide (SiC) surface under ultraviolet (UV) irradiation in hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) solution. In this method, a SiC substrate was excited by UV irradiation that transmitted synthetic quartz, and then an oxide layer on the SiC substrate was formed by photochemical reaction. Simultaneously, hydroxyl radical (OH*) was generated by the decomposition of H2O2 solution by UV irradiation. OH* plays an important role of oxidation of SiC surface. With these chemical reactions, oxide layer was effectively formed on the SiC surface. Finally, the oxide layer generated on a SiC substrate was chemically and/or mechanically removed by synthetic quartz and solutions. The polishing characteristics of this method were investigated by controlling the process parameters. Additionally, surface quality and removal depth were measured and evaluated by a phase-shift interference microscopy. Obtained results show that the surface morphology and the removal rate are strongly dependent on the existence of the UV irradiation. Moreover, it is shown that the removal characteristics of the SiC substrate depend on the process parameters such as the process time, reciprocating speed, and contact load. The processed surface has revealed that many scratches on the preprocessed surface was completely removed. The microroughness of the processed surface was improved to 0.15 nm (Rms) and 1.62 nm (p-v), respectively. These results provide useful information for obtaining an atomically smooth SiC surface.