Growth of 3C-SiC Films on Si (111) and Sapphire (0001) Substrates by MOCVD

Abstract

Thick silicon carbide films were grown on sapphire (0001) and silicon (111) substrates using metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). Diethylmethylsilane (DEMS) has been used as a single precursor, which contain Si and C atoms in the same molecule, without any carrier or bubbler gas. Atomic structure, surface composition and morphology have been investigated by XRD, AES, SEM and AFM analysis. SiC films of 5-7 micron thickness were grown at a rate of ~ 40 nm/min on sapphire (0001) and Si (111) substrates. The films grown at low temperature (850 ºC and 900 ºC) on both substrates show crystalline 3C-SiC in the (111) orientation. XRD results show that the orientation of the crystal structure does not depend of the substrate orientation AFM pictures of SiC films grown on sapphire (0001) exhibit more crystalline order as compared to films grown on the Si (111) substrates. AES of the grown films shows that in both cases the Si peak intensity is greater than that of carbon. This work shows promise for the development of alternative processes for developing low cost, large area substrates for application to IIInitrides LED and UV photodetector fabrication and also for gas detector application.