Cubic Silicon Carbide Thin Films Deposition (3C-SIC Films)

Cubic silicon carbide (3C-SiC) is a wide-bandgap material with characteristics that make it an ideal candidate for applications in high power electronic devices working at high frequency, high temperature, harsh environments, and for micro electro mechanical systems. The first successful experiments on 3C-SiC/Si deposition was carried out in 1983 by S. Nishino, introducing the so-called carbonization layer between the Si substrate and the SiC layer. The growth of SiC thin films via homoepitaxy is a usually performed in hot wall Vapor Phase Epitaxy reactors using silicon and carbon containing precursors, transported to the substrate by using a carrier gas, typically hydrogen. The precursors used for the deposition of 3C-SiC are usually silane and propane, but recently ethane and ethylene were also employed as C-containing species, and chlorine-based precursors were adopted. The high lattice and thermal mismatch cannot be completely avoided in the epitaxial process and, generally, the higher is the layer crystal quality, the higher the strain.