Two-Dimensional Nucleation of Cubic and 6H Silicon Carbide

Abstract

The initial stage of heteroepitaxial growth of 3C-SiC and homoepitaxial growth of 6H-SiC on nominal 6H-SiC on-axis substrates has been studied. Before 3C-SiC starts to nucleate, 6H-SiC grows in a step-flow growth mode due to a slight off-orientation of the substrate surface already at about 1500oC. In the 1650-1700oC temperature interval 3C-SiC nucleates as 2D islands. A distance away from the 3C-SiC island 6H-SiC grows in step-flow mechanism. In the vicinity of the 3C-SiC islands the 6H-SiC growth steps start to change direction and even split into two steps with the equal height of 0.5 nm, which is approaching the unit cell size of cubic SiC. When the supersaturation is lower in comparison with the conditions for 3C-SiC growth, there is only formation of 6H-SiC, i.e. homoepitaxial growth. The growth mode of 6H-SiC is dependent on temperature. At the lowest temperature there is spiral growth while at higher temperature 2D nucleation is preferred.