Growth mechanism of α-SiC hetero-epitaxial films by PLD as studied on the laser photon, pulse-width and substrates dependence

• Published in: Optical materials 2003-07, Vol.23 (1), p.43-47
• Main Authors: Muto, Hachizo, Kamiya, Shin-ichiro, Kusumori, Takeshi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science; rheology; Epitaxy; Exact sciences and technology; Heteroepitaxy; Laser deposition; Materials science; Methods of deposition of films and coatings; film growth and epitaxy; Physics; Picosecond laser; Pulsed laser ablation; Silicon carbide (or SiC); Thin film
• ISSN: 0925-3467; 1873-1252
• DOI: 10.1016/S0925-3467(03)00057-0

Hetero-epitaxial films of α-SiC (high-temperature type) were successfully fabricated by pulsed laser ablation-deposition (PLD) at much lower temperatures than the transition temperature ( T c∼1600 °C) from β-SiC. Since the preparation of the epitaxial films which may be used instead of single-crystal wafers is a very important subject in SiC device technology, we have studied on the laser photon and pulse-width dependence using nanosecond and picosecond Nd:YAG lasers in addition to the temperature and substrate dependence. It is necessary for epitaxial growth of SiC to use a suitable (not so high) fluence, photon energy and pulse width in addition to heater temperature of 1200–1300 °C and symmetry (C 6) matching between substrates and SiC. Otherwise, the lasers decompose the target to so small clusters and ions that they can not recombine and reconstruct SiC crystalline lattices.