Stacking Faults In 3C-SiC Research Articles

Ab initio study of helium behavior near stacking faults in 3C-SiC

First-principles calculations are used to investigate the effects of stacking faults (SFs) on helium trapping and diffusion in cubic silicon carbon (3C-SiC). Both extrinsic and intrinsic SFs in 3C-SiC create a hexagonal stacking sequence. The hexagonal structure is found to be a strong sink of a helium interstitial. Compared to perfect 3C-SiC, the energy barriers for helium migration near the SFs increase significantly, leading to predominant helium diffusion between the SFs in two dimensions. This facilitates the migration of helium towards interface traps, as confirmed by previous experimental reports on the nanocrystalline 3C-SiC containing a high density of SFs. This study also reveals that the formation of helium interstitial clusters near the SFs is not energetically favored. The findings from this study enhance our comprehension of helium behavior in faulted 3C-SiC, offering valuable insights for the design of helium-tolerant SiC materials intended for reactor applications.

Impact of Nitrogen on the Selective Closure of Stacking Faults in 3C-SiC

Impact of Nitrogen on the Selective Closure of Stacking Faults in 3C-SiC

Impact of Nitrogen on the Selective Closure of Stacking Faults in 3C-SiC.

Despite the promising properties, the problem of cubic silicon carbide (3C-SiC) heteroepitaxy on silicon has not yet been resolved and its use in microelectronics is limited by the presence of extensive defects. In this paper, we used microphotoluminescence (μ-PL), molten KOH etching, and high-resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy (HRSTEM) to investigate the effect of nitrogen doping on the distribution of stacking faults (SFs) and assess how increasing dosages of nitrogen during chemical vapor deposition (CVD) growth inhibits the development of SFs. An innovative angle-resolved SEM observation approach of molten KOH-etched samples resulted in detailed statistics on the density of the different types of defects as a function of the growth thickness of 3C-SiC free-standing samples with varied levels of nitrogen doping. Moreover, we proceeded to shed light on defects revealed by a diamond-shaped pit. In the past, they were conventionally associated with dislocations (Ds) due to what happens in 4H-SiC, where the formation of pits is always linked with the presence of Ds. In this work, the supposed Ds were observed at high magnification (by HRSTEM), demonstrating that principally they are partial dislocations (PDs) that delimit an SF, whose development and propagation are suppressed by the presence of nitrogen. These results were compared with VESTA simulations, which allowed to simulate the 3C-SiC lattice to design two 3C-lattice domains delimited by different types of SFs. In addition, through previous experimental evidence, a preferential impact of nitrogen on the closure of 6H-like SFs was observed as compared to 4H-like SFs.

Observations of He platelets during He ion irradiation in 3C SiC

Polycrystalline 3C SiC was irradiated and observed in-situ via Transmission Electron Microscopy with a 20 keV He ion beam at 400, 800, 1000 and 1200 °C at the Microscopes and Ion Accelerators for Materials Investigations facility. During the 400, 800, 1000 and 1200 °C irradiations, black-spot damage was observed at 3.1, 1.1, 2.1 and 2.1 dpa respectively. Helium bubbles were observed after 6.3 dpa at 400 °C and 2.1 dpa at 800 °C, and He platelets were seen after 1.1 dpa at 800, 1000 and 1200 °C but not observed during the 400 °C irradiation. This work shows for the first time, the preferential nucleation of platelets within stacking faults in 3C SiC. The dependence of He platelet diameter with temperature and dose has also been observed.

Structure and Stability of Partial Dislocation Complexes in 3C-SiC by Molecular Dynamics Simulations.

In this work, the structure and stability of partial dislocation (PD) complexes terminating double and triple stacking faults in 3C-SiC are studied by molecular dynamics simulations. The stability of PD complexes is demonstrated to depend primarily on the mutual orientations of the Burgers vectors of constituent partial dislocations. The existence of stable complexes consisting of two and three partial dislocations is established. In particular, two types of stable double (or extrinsic) dislocation complexes are revealed formed by two 30° partial dislocations with different orientations of Burgers vectors, or 30° and 90° partial dislocations. Stable triple PD complexes consist of two 30° partial dislocations with different orientations of their Burgers vectors and one 90° partial dislocation, and have a total Burgers vector that is equal to zero. Results of the simulations agree with experimental observations of the stable PD complexes forming incoherent boundaries of twin regions and polytype inclusions in 3C-SiC films.

Defect-Induced Nucleation and Epitaxy: A New Strategy toward the Rational Synthesis of WZ-GaN/3C-SiC Core-Shell Heterostructures.

In this work, we demonstrate a new strategy to create WZ-GaN/3C-SiC heterostructure nanowires, which feature controllable morphologies. The latter is realized by exploiting the stacking faults in 3C-SiC as preferential nucleation sites for the growth of WZ-GaN. Initially, cubic SiC nanowires with an average diameter of ∼100 nm, which display periodic stacking fault sections, are synthesized in a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process to serve as the core of the heterostructure. Subsequently, hexagonal wurtzite-type GaN shells with different shapes are grown on the surface of 3C-SiC wire core. In this context, it is possible to obtain two types of WZ-GaN/3C-SiC heterostructure nanowires by means of carefully controlling the corresponding CVD reactions. Here, the stacking faults, initially formed in 3C-SiC nanowires, play a key role in guiding the epitaxial growth of WZ-GaN as they represent surface areas of the 3C-SiC nanowires that feature a higher surface energy. A dedicated structural analysis of the interfacial region by means of high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) revealed that the disordering of the atom arrangements in the SiC defect area promotes a lattice-matching with respect to the WZ-GaN phase, which results in a preferential nucleation. All WZ-GaN crystal domains exhibit an epitaxial growth on 3C-SiC featuring a crystallographic relationship of [12̅10](WZ-GaN) //[011̅](3C-SiC), (0001)(WZ-GaN)//(111)(3C-SiC), and d(WZ-GaN(0001)) ≈ 2d(3C-SiC(111)). The approach to utilize structural defects of a nanowire core to induce a preferential nucleation of foreign shells generally opens up a number of opportunities for the epitaxial growth of a wide range of semiconductor nanostructures which are otherwise impossible to acquire. Consequently, this concept possesses tremendous potential for the applications of semiconductor heterostructures in various fields such as optics, electrics, electronics, and photocatalysis for energy harvesting and environment processing.

Propagation of Stacking Faults in 3C-SiC

To quantitatively evaluate the efficacy of stacking fault (SF) reduction methods, Monte Carlo simulations are carried out to reveal the SF distribution on a 3C–SiC (001) surface. SF density decreases with increasing epitaxial layer thickness and reducing size of the substrates. Additionally, SF density depends on interactions between adjoining SFs: annihilation of counter SF-pairs or termination of orthogonal SF-pairs. However, the SF is not entirely eliminated when growth occurs on undulant-Si or switchback epitaxy due to “spontaneous SF collimation”. The simulation shows that effective SF reduction methods, those that enhance the SF termination or annihilation, can theoretically attain the SF density on 3C–SiC (001) below 100 cm-1.

‘Switch-Back Epitaxy’ as a Novel Technique for Reducing Stacking Faults in 3C-SiC

A new technique that reduces stacking fault (SF) density in 3C-SiC, termed switch-back epitaxy (SBE), is demonstrated regarding its effects on morphological and electrical properties. SBE is a homoepitaxial growth process on backside of 3C-SiC grown on undulant-Si. The key feature of SBE, the surface polarity of residual SFs in 3C-SiC, which cannot be erased by heteroepitaxial growth on undulant-Si, is converted from the Si-face to the C-face. The SF density on the surface of 3C-SiC grown by SBE shows a remarkable decrease to one-seventh lower than that on undulant- Si. The leakage current of pn-diode epitaxially fabricated on the 3C-SiC substrate grown by SBE decreases to as low as one-thirtieth that on 3C-SiC substrate grown without SBE. These results suggest that SBE eliminates the SFs on the surface of 3C-SiC and subsequently reduces the leakage current at pn-junction thus fabricated.