Liquid-phase epitaxy of 2H–SiC film on a (0001) 4H–SiC substrate in Li–Si melt

Abstract We first applied a liquid-phase epitaxy (LPE) method to the growth of 2H–SiC to obtain an oriented 2H–SiC layer. The LPE growth was performed on a (0001) 4H–SiC substrate in a Li–Si–C melt at 850 °C. A LPE layer grew on the carbon face of the (0001) 4H–SiC substrate with the area of about 1 × 1 mm 2 . The thickness and morphology of the LPE layer were confirmed by scanning electron microscope (SEM), and the polytype of the LPE layer was determined using a high-resolution transmission electron microscope (HR-TEM) and a Raman spectroscopy. SEM measurements revealed that the thickness of the LPE layer was 50 μm and that this layer developed with a hexagonal shape. HR-TEM observations and Raman spectral analysis showed that 2H–SiC layer grows on 4H–SiC substrate with the relationship of (0001) 2H–SiC (0001) 4H–SiC. In this study, we first succeeded to grow -axis-oriented 2H–SiC films and concluded that the LPE technique is applicable to the growth of oriented 2H–SiC films in the Li–Si melt.