Aluminum Nitride-Silicon Carbide Alloy Crystals Grown on SiC Substrates by Sublimation


Z. Gu, L. Du, J.H. Edgar
Department of Chemical Engineering, Kansas State University

E.A. Payzant, L. Walker
Oak Ridge National Laboratory, High Temperature Materials Laboratory

R. Liu
Department of Physics and Astronomy, Arizona State University

M.H. Engelhard
Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

This article was received on Monday, November 28, 2005 and accepted on Monday, December 19, 2005.

Abstract

AlN-SiC alloy crystals, with a thickness greater than 500 µm, were grown on 4H- and 6H-SiC substrates from a mixture of AlN and SiC powders by the sublimation-recondensation method at 1860-1990 °C. On-axis SiC substrates produced a rough surface covered with hexagonal grains, while 6H- and 4H- off-axis SiC substrates with different miscut angles (8° or 3.68°) formed a relatively smooth surface with terraces and steps. The substrate misorientation ensured that the AlN-SiC alloy crystals grew two dimensionally as identified by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) confirmed that the AlN-SiC alloys had the wurtzite structure. Electron probe microanalysis (EPMA) and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) demonstrated that the resultant alloy crystals had non-stoichiometric ratios of Al:N and Si:C and a uniform composition throughout the alloy crystal from the interface to the surface. The composition ratio of Al:Si of the alloy crystals changed with the growth temperature, and differed from the original source composition, which was consistent with the results predicted by thermodynamic calculation of the solid-vapor distribution of each element. XPS detected the bonding between Si-C, Si-N, Si-O for the Si 2p spectra. The dislocation density decreased with the growth, which was lower than 106 cm-2 at the alloy surface, more than two orders of magnitude lower compared to regions close to the crystal/substrate interface, as determined by TEM.

Outline

  • Introduction
  • Experimental
  • Crystal growth of AlN-SiC alloy on SiC substrate
  • Characterization
  • Thermodynamic calculation
  • Results
  • Conclusions
  • Acknowledgments

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    Cite this article as: MRS Internet J. Nitride Semicond. Res. 10, 5(2005).

    last updated Thursday, January 5, 2006 6:44:20 PM.

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