Professional Documents
Culture Documents
By: Arka Majumdar Dept. of Electronics & Electrical Communication Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur
8/2/2008
Why Silicon Carbide Why Bulk Growth Different processes of bulk growth Dopant incorporation Defects associated with bulk growth Comparative study of different processes
8/2/2008
8/2/2008
Wide band-gap : SiC - 2.2-3.4eV Si - 1.1eV 1. High temperature can be reached. Si - 300 oC SiC - 1000 oC 2. SiC has optical detection capability in the UV range. But SiC is indirect band-gap Semiconductor-GaN is mainly used in commercially available LEDs. Less sensitive to high wavelength suitable for certain sensor applications.
8/2/2008 Bulk Growth of SiC crystal 4
8/2/2008
STILL Si!!!
At room temperature and ordinary operation Si cannot be replaced by SiC. High cut-in voltage at room-temperature (1.3 V); less mobility . SiC is 12% ionic and hence may cause problem. Applicable for certain specific applications like space where high power and high frequency is involved.
8/2/2008
DEVICE TECHNOLOGY
Steps towards device technology : Bulk Growth Epitaxial Growth Ion implantation Metallization Device Modeling
8/2/2008
8/2/2008
GROWTH TECHNIQUES
Bulk crystal growth is the technique for fabrication of single crystalline substrates , making the base for further device processing. To have a breakthrough in SiC technology obviously we need production of SiC substrate with a reproducible process. Today substrates up to 50 mm in diameter are commercially available and 100 mm substrate has been reported. Several methods are used for bulk growth.
8/2/2008
10
ACHESON PROCESS
Conceived by Acheson in 1891. A mixture of silica, carbon, sawdust and common salt (e.g. 50% silica, 40% coke, 7% sawdust and 3% common salt) is heated in an electric furnace .The heating is accomplished by a core of graphite and coke placed centrally in the furnace. The mixture of reactants is placed around this core. The mixture is then heated to reach a maximum temperature of approximately 2700o C, after which the temperature is gradually lowered. Sawdust makes mixture porous and NaCl is a purifier.
8/2/2008 Bulk Growth of SiC crystal 11
ACHESON PROCESS
8/2/2008
12
LELY PROCESS
Developed in the year of 1955 by Lely. Lump of SiC are kept in the furnace. The crucible is heated to approximately 2500o C in an atmosphere of argon at atmospheric pressure. On the top and bottom of the cylinder a thick dense layer of SiC is formed. The quality of these crystals can be very high, however the yield of the process is low, the sizes irregular, the shape of the crystals is normally hexagonal and there exists no polytype control. Best crystalline quality can be very useful for further epitaxial growth.
8/2/2008
13
LELY PROCESS
8/2/2008
14
8/2/2008
16
8/2/2008
17
8/2/2008
18
COMPARISON
The width of the rocking curve is a direct measure of the range of orientation present in the irradiated area of the crystal, as each sub grain of the crystal will come into orientation as the crystal is rotated.
8/2/2008
19
8/2/2008
20
8/2/2008
21
8/2/2008
24
DOPANT INCORPORATION:
Can be doped during Bulk Growth. Nitrogen n type; Aluminum p type. N2 incorporation is independent of growth rate and proportional to square root of vapor pressure.(1017 1021 cm-3). The N incorporation is 2-3 times higher for growth on the C face than Si face but at 2300oc but this difference decreases with temperature. Al incorporation is higher in Si face(5-10 times). But that difference also decreases with temperature. Doping incorporation is also sensitive to small variation in crystallographic orientation.
8/2/2008 Bulk Growth of SiC crystal 25
8/2/2008
26
POLYTYPES
A special form of polymorphism. The occurrence of a given compound in more than one crystal structure is known as polymorphism. Polytypes differ in stacking. In 2-D within the sheet there is no difference between the different polytypes. Not all polytypes are stable. The stability of different polytypes can be explained in two ways kinetics and thermodynamics. There are meta-stable polytypes also.
8/2/2008
27
POLYTYPES
As the electronic, chemical as well as mechanical properties of different SiC polytypes are totally different hence single polytype growth is required. During growth a mixture of polytypes is produced. Some important polytypes are discussed in next slide. C-cubic H-Hexagonal R-Rhombohedral
8/2/2008
28
SOME POLYTYPES
3C-SiC (Zincblende): Low-temperature stable. Transforms to 6H-SiC (or sometimes 15R-SiC) at a high temperature (above 2000 o C). 2H-SiC (Wurtzite): Low-temperature stable. Rarely obtained because of less thermal stability than even 3C-SiC at a high temperature. 4H-SiC, 6H-SiC: High-temperature stable. Bulk crystal is obtainable by sublimation method, which has promoted researches of these polytypes. 8H, 15R, 21R, ... more than 200 polytypes are reported. 4-D representation.
8/2/2008 Bulk Growth of SiC crystal 29
SOME POLYTYPES
Stacking Order of 6H-SiC Stacking Order of 4H-SiC
8/2/2008
30
IMPURITY
Impurity depends on the source of SiC used. No process has inherent mechanisms to remove impurities. Generally heavy metals (like Sc) may be there as impurity. They form deep layer and the mobility is affected. Sometimes deliberately impurities are introduced to change the property. Like vanadium produces deep level in the band-gap acting as trap for holes. Hence intentional doping of V is done to make a semiinsulating material.
8/2/2008 Bulk Growth of SiC crystal 31
8/2/2008
32
8/2/2008
33
8/2/2008
34
8/2/2008
35
8/2/2008
36
DEFECTS:DISLOCATION
Line discontinuity in the regular crystal structure . Two basic types: Edge dislocations, and Screw dislocations. Edge dislocation : insertion (or removal) of an extra half plane of atoms in the crystal structure. Screw Dislocation : changes the character of the atom planes. The atom planes no longer exist separately from each other. They form a single surface, like a screw thread, which "spirals" from one end of the crystal to the other.
8/2/2008
37
DEFECTS:DISLOCATION
In the average crystal structure, there are ~1012 m of dislocation lines per m3 of crystal. Combinations of edge and screw dislocations are often formed as edge dislocations can be formed by branching off a screw dislocation. Cannot end inside crystal has to end in a close line or in the surface. Magnitude of Burgers vector is a measure of dislocation energy. Burgers vector can be found out be Transmission Electron Microscope. Defects in bulk can propagate in epi-layer.
8/2/2008 Bulk Growth of SiC crystal 38
DEFECTS:DISLOCATION
Screw Dislocation
8/2/2008
Edge Dislocation
39
8/2/2008
41
8/2/2008
42
Seeded Sublimation Medium Good Good Medium Medium Medium Medium Good Very Good Good
LPE Bad Medium Bad Very Good Medium Medium Very Bad Good Very Bad Medium
HTCVD Bad Medium Medium Medium Very Good Good Bad Bad Bad Good
43
SUMMARY
A new way to combat high frequency and high power requirement. But Si is still indispensable. Seeded sublimation growth is the best technique. LPE and HTCVD have lots of potential for defect minimization and in near future can be a good competitor of Seeded sublimation growth. But only good bulk growth does not guarantee device fabrication. Epitaxial growth and ion-implantation is also important.
8/2/2008
44
REFERENCES:
Process Technology for Silicon Carbide Devices; edited by Carl-Mikael Zetterling www.ndt-ed.org www.ecn.purdue.edu www.ifn.liu.se Naval Research Reviews, Vol. 51, No. 1 Silicon Carbide Electronic Devices P. G. Neudeck High growth rate epitaxy of SiC: growth process and structural quality; Mikael Syvjrvi
8/2/2008
45
8/2/2008
46