Low-temperature epitaxial Si on 4H-SiC using metal-induced crystallization

Abstract

Metal induced crystallization using aluminum (Al) as catalytic metal was applied to achieve low-temperature crystallization of amorphous silicon (a-Si) on 4H-SiC. Epitaxial crystallization of Si grains was found to occur on off-axis 4H-SiC at very low temperatures using X-ray diffractometry (XRD). In-situ heating XRD measurements revealed an onset of the crystallization process at temperatures as low as 220 °C on Si- and C-face SiC, respectively. Cross-sectional imaging with scanning electron microscopy showed an almost complete layer transfer between Si and the Al metallization after annealing.