Defect Reduction of Cvd-Grown Cubic SiC Epitaxial Films on Off-Axis Si(100) Substrates with a Novel Off-Direction.

Monocrystalline cubic SiC (β-SiC) thin films with lower defect densities have been epitaxially grown by chemical vapor deposition on off-axis Si (100) substrates with off-directions different from the conventional 〈011〉. Stacking faults of β-SiC films are investigated by the electrolytic etching and SEM observation. The effects of off-direction deviated from 〈011〉 are examined for the first time. The off-angle is fixed at 2 degrees. We find a reduction in defect density with increasing deviation angle θ, of off-direction from [011] toward [011] θ 0–45°). The defect density becomes one order of magnitude smaller than that of on-axis (100) substrates. A typical value of the stacking fault density is approximately 6 × 106 cm−2 on the substrate with θ = 30 ° (film thickness: 24 μm).