PNNL

Abstract

Ion channeling has been used in a detailed study of 3C-SiC films grown by chemical vapor deposition on a Si/SiO2/Si substrate. For a 160-nm-thick (100)-oriented SiC film, the results show a minimum yield (Xmin) of ~28% at the SiC-Si interface, while a SiC film with a thickness of ~2.4 microns, grown under identical conditions, was almost defect free (Xmin=5.3%) in the surface region. Angular scans around the (110) axis revealed the existence of a superlattice structure at the SiC-Si interface. The strain-induced angular shift ws determined to be 0.16 degree plus or minus 0.05 degrees, indicating a kink between the SiC and Si layers along the inclined (110) axis. A modified model is suggested to interpret the experimental observations.